Martin Endjala
Swapo member Reinhold Shipwiikineni has urged lawyers to stand firm in the pursuit of social justice and not abandon clients.
Shipwiikineni’s call follows the withdrawal of a letter to the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) by its Ondangwa-based legal representative, Nicky Ngula Attorneys, without consulting them.
Shipwiikineni, Joshua Vaino Martins, Petrus Ndeshipanda Shituula, Erich Chrismann Shivute, and Aina Kalimba Angula allege that the Swapo party central committee’s nomination of Nandi-Ndaitwah as presidential candidate is invalid because it violates Article 15(9) of the party’s constitution.
Ngula withdrew the group’s request to the ECN to not allow Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to register as a presidential candidate for the upcoming November elections.
They resubmitted their letter to the ECN on 16 August, following Ngula’s withdrawal.
The five members have been calling for an extraordinary meeting to elect the party’s president, who would stand as the party’s presidential candidate after the passing of the late President Hage Geingob.
In another letter dated 14 August, Shipwiikineni and others requested the ECN not to allow Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to register for the upcoming presidential elections.
“The lawyer gave no reason. My advice to aspiring lawyers is that they must be prepared to become lawyers to advocate for social justice and should not stand up to double standards and gun for the money only. As a result, on 16 August, we submitted a similar letter to the commission. We did not agree to withdraw the previous letter,” he said.
Last week, Shipwiikineni told the Windhoek Observer that their struggle for social justice would remain unstoppable.
He argues that those unwilling to fight for social justice should not force themselves, stating that they are not fighting for money.
In a counter letter on 16 August, Martins wrote to ECN, expressing that imposing the Vice President as an unelected default president is contrary to its members’ voting rights.
“Therefore, our instructions are to advise that the Electoral Commission of Namibia, in the circumstances, should not allow the registration of Nandi-Ndaitwah as a presidential candidate for the National Presidential elections for 2024 as a result of her non-compliance with Article 15 (9) of the Swapo Party Constitution,” he argued.
The High Court is currently deliberating this issue in a pending case (case registration no. HC—MDCIVMOT-GEN-2024/00268).
Swapo and Nandi-Ndaitwah are cited as the first and second respondents, respectively.
Martins asserted that Nandi-Ndaitwah did not win an “open election” in which all members participated to comply with Article 28(3).
As a result, he said Nandi-Ndaitwah could not be nominated unless she came through an open election as an office bearer representing Swapo at the 27 November elections.
“If she is accepted by ECN, then all Swapo members would have been denied a fundamental right in Article 17″ to participate in the conduct of public affairs directly… as a presidential candidate,” he added.
Martins further said they expected the central committee to recognise the noncompliance or conflict with Article 15 (9) and that the decision would be withdrawn.
This did not happen.
He insisted on holding the extraordinary congress within three months of the passing of the late former president.
He claims that the article’s main goal is to appoint someone to serve out the unexpired term and to swiftly elect a replacement.
“Consequently, calling for an extraordinary congress about 14 months later contradicts the aforementioned provision. The provision protects members’ rights to vote for a new president to complete the unexpired term,” he argued.
