Ester Mbathera
In an effort to invalidate a crucial decision the party’s central committee made to postpone the extraordinary congress to 19 April 2025, five members of the SWAPO have filed a lawsuit against their own party.
The applicants, Joshua Vaino Martins, Petrus Ndeshipanda Shituula, Aina Kalimba Angula, Reinhold Nghihepavali Shipwikineni, and Erich Chrismann Shivute, filed a Notice of Motion with the High Court of Namibia on Thursday.
The five have been insisting on the party holding an extraordinary congress in order to elect a party president before the November elections.
Swapo currently has no president, just Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the vice president.
The position became vacant following the death of President Hage Geingob on 4 February.
The party’s central committee in March decided that 19 April 2025 would be the date when an extraordinary party congress would take place, not within 90 days.
The motion requested that the court declare the central committee’s decision to postpone the extraordinary congress invalid.
The applicants also seek a court declaration that the decision conflicted with the party’s constitution.
The applicants initially, through their lawyer, Richard Metcalfe from Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys, instructed the party to hold the extraordinary congress on or before 4 May.
At the time, Swapo deputy secretary general, Uahekua Herunga, said if the party is summoned by the court to answer questions, the leadership will provide direction and go to court.
“We cannot refuse to go to court because the court told us to, and if we have to answer anything, we will be able to answer in court because we cannot ignore our own court,” he said.
The Notice of Motion was accompanied by affidavits from the five applicants, detailing their grievances and the legal grounds for their challenge.
They contend that the decision to hold the extraordinary congress undermined the integrity of the party’s governance structures because it did not properly adhere to the party’s constitutional provisions.
“Article 15 touches on the rights and obligations of the President of Swapo. Those duties have to be exercised on an ongoing basis; after all, by the very nature of the activities of a political party, every proverbial moment counts – and even more so in an election year. The president assumes and chairs the central committee, and the political bureau and is accountable to them. The president also chairs the congress which is the supreme decision-making organ of the Swapo,” he explained.
The respondents in this case are SWAPO and Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the party’s vice president.
The respondents have been given five days from the date of service of the application to notify the applicants’ legal practitioners of their intention to oppose the application. Should they choose to oppose, they are required to file their answering affidavits within 14 days.
If no notice of intention to oppose is given, the application will be heard on 10 July.
