Erasmus Shalihaxwe
Republican Party leader, Henk Mudge says Chinese nationals living in Namibia have no regard for the country’s law and have turned it into their playground.
He said once he is voted into office, he will grant them three months to leave Namibia.
Mudge was speaking at the presidential candidates’ discussion that took place last Thursday in Windhoek.
‘’They made our country a playground. They are selling fake goods, which puts our people out of business, and this is all because of the protection they are getting from Swapo. So the only way to protect Namibian people and protect Namibian workers is to chase them out of the country,’’ he said.
He said Chinese nationals have no respect for Namibian laws and do whatever they please because they are protected by the ruling party, Swapo.
He accused the ruling party of giving Chinese nationals the power to sell counterfeit products, pay Namibian workers low wages, and treat them inhumanely.
Mudge said that to protect the country, he would give them marching orders and introduce stricter laws to allow them back in the country.
Mudge cautioned opposition political parties not to go to elections separately if they want to defeat the ruling party, but to come together and choose one candidate to represent them all and gang up on Swapo.
‘’The biggest gift we can give Namibians is a new government with a majority in parliament, and for that to happen, the opposition must come together and decide which candidate will represent them to defeat Swapo. If we don’t do that, we will just divide the votes and allow Swapo to walk away with victory,’’ warned Mudge.
He went on to say that the government appears to be intentionally causing all the social ills Namibians face, despite the country’s abundance of resources to enhance everyone’s quality of life, yet these issues remain unresolved even after years of independence.
Speaking on the same occasion, Munjuku Nguvauva of Rally for Democracy and Progress said that to remove Swapo from power through a democratic process, many issues need to be addressed, starting with the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), which politicians are using to keep Swapo in power.
‘’We need a proper structure at ECN; we need to amend the constitution to make sure the ECN is operating independently. Currently, the ECN is an instrument of the ruling party to make sure they remain in power and make sure we continue living in poverty, they want us to continue begging. Therefore, we need to revisit the ECN role and put up a proper structure,’’ said Nguvauva.
United Democratic Front (UDF) spokesperson, Mabasen Narib said the government is failing to address unemployment because it is struggling to create new industries that can absorb the majority of the unemployed.
‘’The sad reality is that after 34 years of independence, we are still facing the same problems; this is happening because we are focusing on providing jobs through existing industries. We need to tap into new industries to absorb the unemployed graduates,’’ said Narib.
Independent presidential candidate Ally Angula said Namibia is facing a multifaceted economic crisis.
‘’This is a country that rewards CEOs of failing public enterprises with government bailouts; some are rewarded with other positions and continue to fail,’’ said Angula.
Another independent presidential candidate, Rosa Namises, said Namibia has skilled people, especially young people, who now know what it feels like to be unemployed. Therefore, her approach will include using Namibians’ skills to create jobs.
‘’We will use their skills to build new industries by using the available resources; we can use young men that I have seen scavenging in rubbish bins to clean our streets and keep our towns clean,’’ she said.
The public discussion is organised by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) to give presidential candidates from all political parties a platform to share their manifestos and plans to address social issues affecting the country.
