….as two continue with court case
Staff Writer
It has emerged that the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has smoked the peace pipe with two of its disgruntled members who had contested the party’s decision to exclude them from its National Assembly list.
Information gathered by the Windhoek Observer has revealed that Yvette Araes and Maximilliant Katjimune resolved to tow the party line with regards to its decision which saw 16 other members making it to parliament after a good performance by the opposition party in last year’s elections.
The two are reported to have met the party leadership over their concerns, although no commitments were made to the two.
“It’s true, but there was no agreement reached with the two as they realized that the party was right in its decision, where the parliament list was decided by the central committee,” PDM Secretary General, Manuel Ngaringombe said.
He, however, stated the party will not be taking any disciplinary action against the two.
“There will be no action taken against the two as they were challenging a democratic process and it was within their rights, Ngaringombe said.
Contacted for comment, Katjimune was tightlipped, referring the newspaper to the party leadership.
“I have no comment as the matter is sub judice. You can also contact the party leadership,” he said.
The opposition party, however, still needs to defend its decision at the High Court against two other party members, Charmaine Tjirare and Hidipo Hamata, who have approached the courts seeking relief over their exclusion from the list.
“We were supposed to get a date yesterday (Tuesday), but because it’s three judges hearing the case, they need more time to arrange that. Probably within this month,” declared Lawyer, Norman Tjombe who is representing the two.
The two party member’s challenge if successful, will also apply to Araes and Katjimune.
Araes and Katjimune are accusing the opposition party of diverting from the gazetted list published by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) ahead of November’s general election.
This comes after the ECN in October issued a directive that all politicians employed in the public service as well as in national, regional and local councils must resign from their civil service jobs upon being nominated for the National Assembly election.
The PDM initially submitted a list to the ECN consisting of leader McHenry Venaani, Jennifer van den Heever, Ricky Vries, Vipua Muharukua, Nico Smit, Jan van Wyk, Elma Dienda, Esme !Aebes, Johannes Martin, Kazeongere Tjeundo, Inna Hengari, Geoffrey Mwilima, Elizabeth Celeste Becker, Sydney Ndumba, Winnie Moongo and Pieter Mostert, making up the top 16, and automatically removed some PDM members who had refused to resign from the party list in order to comply with the Electoral Act.
Despite initially resisting the ECN directive, the party eventually submitted an adjusted list to the commission.
