Helena Johannes
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) former regional council candidate Hafeni Mafita has refused to apologize over racial remarks he made on his Facebook page and accused the opposition party of throwing him under the bus.
This comes as PDM expelled Mafita as a member of the party on Tuesday morning, with immediate effect.
The opposition party has also withdrawn him as a candidate for the John Pandeni constituency in the upcoming elections for which he was set to contest.
“I have not done anything wrong. This is revenge. I am not going to apologize before the man from Bank Windhoek apologizes for the racist comments he made by linking black students to monkeys. He must first apologize to those students,” Mafita said.
“I had already resigned because they are defending white people instead of me. I am not a puppet, thus I am going back to SWAPO.”
The former PDM member who joined the party last year said besides joining the ruling party, he planned to vote for it in the upcoming regional and local authority elections for John Pandeni constituency.
“I am not going to make a membership card, but by heart I will join SWAPO,” he said.
PDM Secretary General Manuel Ngaringombe said after Mafita made his first racial utterances on social media, the party ‘Top 6’ called him in, strongly reprimanded him and instructed him to issue a public apology within 12 hours. However he said that Mafita was not willing to render a public apology, and has since gone on to continue with his racial public outbursts through his Facebook account.
“The leadership of the PDM has therefore been left with no choice but to expel him in line with the PDM constitution which states that a member shall be charged with a serious offence if he or she persistently sows racism, regionalism, tribalism or nepotism in the Organization,” said Ngaringombe.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) Communications Manager Lina Ndengu, however, said ECN regulations do not allow for the cancellation or replacement of candidates after nomination and registration.
“The issue is currently being sorted out. Discussion into the matter is ongoing, and we will communicate our final decision in due time,” she said.
