Paul Shipale
Despite conspicuous rumours and glaring headlines in the daily newspapers yelling ‘Netumbo clique eyes dominance’ and talks of ‘underground machinations to ensure that those who supported the party’s vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah at the 2022 congress dominate the upper half of the party’s parliamentary list’, the Swapo Party leadership has done its homework and listened to the cry of the nation clamouring for help, as some say, “the ‘pot’, which has been cooking and simmering for over 72 hours, burned many of the old guard and delivered a fresh meal of a mixed stew, one Swapo had yearn for a long time”, of those who will represent the party in the National Assembly next year. Any other result would have been too ghastly to contemplate.
Unlike previous years – when factions openly fought for power – this time around, there were no obvious signs of camps marking their territory as one Member of Parliament and Swapo delegate was quoted in one of daily newspaper saying that things have changed. “This time around, you don’t see people from a certain camp walking around with entitlement, claiming tables near the high table. What we also no longer see is that parties are held at House Number One, as was the case in the past when people would be invited to the president’s house and even sent us pictures to make us understand we are not part of the clique… With Netumbo, there is no outright favouritism,” he said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah told delegates that “in everything we do, we must be guided by our Swapo Party basic principles,” she said. “We must remain united and spare our energy for the big battle where we will face our opponents on 27 November,” she added. These views were echoed by President Nangolo Mbumba who also spoke at the event. Mbumba said despite the outcome, the delegates must remain comrades and not sworn enemies. “Afterwards, we must all hold hands and unite against opposition parties, which are dreaming and attempting to attain the Swapo party’s position as the ruling party,” he noted. Thus, both leaders emphasised on preaching against division within the party which has, in the past, suffered from internal conflicts, with the 2017 congress being a notable event that saw the formation of factions, namely; Team Harambee and Team Swapo.
The usual slate politics, which has gouged deep cuts through the party in the past, seems to have loosened its grip and Nandi-Ndaitwah’s call for unity ahead of the upcoming elections has yielded positive results. Indeed, leading up to the Electoral College, there were reports that some Swapo members, particularly those who were brought into the political limelight by the late President Hage Geingob, were targeted and being purged through de-campaigning among factions or teams that were at the Electoral College.
But when everything was done and dusted and the dust settled, those who were considered Geingob’s ‘blue-eyed boys’, among them information Minister Emma Theofelus, governors Salomon April (Hardap), Sirkka Ausiku (Kavango West), Marius Sheya (Kunene), James Uerikua (Otjozondjupa) and Neville Andre (Erongo) as well as Sharonice Busch, Chairperson of the National Youth Council, if the 2019 National Assembly election results, where Swapo secured 63 seats, are anything to go by, made it on the list.
SWAPO Party Secretary General Sophia Shaningwa expressed hopes that participants were going to vote ‘sensitively’ [sic] and consider young people in the selection process as the old generation is ageing. “There is really a need for SWAPO to start grooming the young people to take on the party and to take up the government come the future [sic],” said Shaningwa. Unlike in September 2019 when most SWAPO members of Parliament maintained their positions on the party list to secure yet another five years in the National Assembly, this time, however, it was not to be as the foot soldiers from the party’s structures in the regions elected mostly the youth, heeding the advice of Secretary General Shaningwa.
The Electoral College infused new blood in the party’s parliamentary list, including putting the youngest candidate on the list, Fenny Tutjavi, a Gen Z who is 22 years old. Tutjavi is currently the student representative council general secretary at UNAM main campus and secretary general of the African Youth Adolescents network for the Namibian chapter. Tutjavi’s inclusion is seen as a deliberate effort to rejuvenate the party’s image and connect with a younger electorate ahead of the November elections.
Other new faces include Ndilimani lead vocalist Ileni Castro, Auala Toivo, Christine Haindaka, Marlyn Mbakera, Gaudentia Krohne, Marta Asker-Itope, Hilma Iita, Charles McNab and Sam (Shafa) Nujoma. Another notable young blood on the list is Willem Amutenya, a fast-rising star after he attempted to challenge the party youth league secretary Ephraim Nekongo at the league’s congress in 2022. The same year, he became a member of the SWAPO Central Committee.
Over the years, candidates who lost out during the vice-president race at the party’s congress hardly make it high onto the parliamentary list. This time around, however, it was not the case as Pohamba Shifeta is at No. 20 on the list while Kuugongelwa-Amadhila appears at No. 21, when she was appointed by Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, together with Ephraim Nekongo, among the ten appointees required to complete the 96 lists of potential candidates for the National Assembly next year.
In addition, Nandi-Ndaitwah appointed, among the ten, Indileni Daniel, Linda Mbwale, from Ovazemba community who are usually forgotten on the list, Erastus Mbumba Haitengela as well as Dino Ballotti, the new head of business and public sector banking at FNB, who previously served as the Executive Director at the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) before he was removed from the Board by the CEO Nangula Uaandja. Given that Verna Sinimbo, Deputy Minister of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development, might not come back to Parliament, Balloti is seen as a potential Deputy Minister of Trade.
The real coup de theatre, however, was the appointment, by the Swapo leadership, of Dr Elijah Ngurare and Alpheus !Naruseb, among the ten appointees. The two were left out in the Harambee era due to purges. !Naruseb’s return might signal the need for a new Speaker, after the current deputy Prime Minister John Mutorwa opted to go on retirement and was conferred a national honour with the award of the Most Brilliant Order of the Sun, first class, for his distinguished service above the call of duty, together with other honorees who might also retire very soon.
Despite the onslaught he faced over the years, due to a relatively strenuous relationship with Geingob and his administration, including his removal from various boards of Swapo companies to being elbowed from a NamWater board position, Ngurare hardly spoke ill about Swapo or his comrades and remained unwavering or ‘ndjikiti’ as he likes to say. Highly regarded by the Secretary General, he is seen as a seasoned politician who will able to face the stiff competition from the opposition parties headed by youngsters.
In my article titled ‘Namibia should prepare for her upcoming historical cycle of the winter season’, I warned that ‘unless the ruling Party SWAPO brings into its fold young leaders such as Dr Elijah Ngurare and others, they will face a stiff competition from other parties who are headed by youngsters’. It seems the leadership has heard my plea and that of Asser Ntinda, the veteran editor of Namibia Today, who I understand is now back at the SWAPO Party mouthpiece, after he also fell victim to the Harambee era purging.
In 2019, Environment Minister Pohamba Shifeta topped the list of male candidates, but this time around it was Modestus Amutse and Iipumbu Shiimi who are on top of the male list while the Minister of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development, Lucia Iipumbu, came second on the women’s list and was ranked fifth on the party list due to Mukapuli who garnered 197 votes and tops the female list. In fact, in the initial top 20 women’s list, only two female Cabinet ministers, Lucia Iipumbu and Emma Theofelus, made the cut.
Despite spanners that were thrown in her work, Theofelus garnered 162 votes. This is after she was elbowed from the SWAPO Party Youth League’s list of delegates to the pot but NUNW seemingly threw her a lifeline and embraced her as their own. Prominent Swapo members, including Cabinet ministers, did not make the party’s list of 96. However, some ministers made the list, if the 2019 National Assembly election results, where SWAPO secured 63 seats, are anything to go by.
These include Peya Mushelenga who came in at 53 position, followed by Heather Sibungo at 54, Tom Alweendo in the 55th position, while Itah Kandjii-Murangi is at 58 and Bernadette Jagger at 60. Others, such as Frans Kapofi at 67 and Faustina Caley at 70, will rely on the performance of the party in the upcoming elections to know their fate.
Meanwhile, some will pin their hopes on presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to win the election and consider them among her eight presidential appointees as provided for in the Namibian Constitution. Nevertheless, I see Dr Kaire Mbuende making his come-back among the eight non-voting members of the National Assembly appointed by the President, including people such as James Sankwasa, Dr Bernard Haufiku and probably Lieutenant General (Rtd) Martin Shalli. There are speculations that Mbuende, as Nandi-Ndaitwah’s campaign manager, is being linked to the country’s vice president position with Dr Haufiku as the new Minister of Health, Lieutenant General (Rtd) Shalli as Minister of Defence, in case Kapofi does not make it to Parliament and Sankwasa as Deputy Prime Minister and Lucia Witbooi as Deputy Speaker.
That’s why to me the position of Kaire Mbuende at the bottom of the list was probably just another one of those smokes and mirrors which are part of a grand strategy to obscure the truth with irrelevant information and counter the headlines of ‘Netumbo clique eyes dominance’. Similarly, the inclusion of Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and Efraim Nekongo among the ten appointees was also probably part of the above strategy and grand scheme to keep Kuugongelwa-Amadhila as Prime Minister and make sure that she does not get burned in the ‘pot’ while competing with others for votes.
Thus, contrary to those who are saying the Electoral College was nothing but a ‘popularity contest’ and that the election was not based on meritocracy but purely on popularity, are wrong to insinuate that, if elected, Nandi-Ndaitwah will not be able to form a government with experienced Ministers. Indeed, according to some analysts, those elected lack individual competencies and were only elected thanks to ‘the dictate of the brown envelope that made them emerge in the top 40.’ “In short, the list is populated more with popular people than competent ones,” said the analyst.
I beg to differ with the above analyst because if you look at the Prime Minister Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, together with the current crop of Ministers such as Iipumbu Shiimi, Lucia Iipumbu, Emma Theofelus Evelyn ǃNawases-Taeyele, Derek Klazen, Pohamba Shifeta, Peya Mushelenga, Tom Alweendo, Itah Kandji-Murangi and Frans Kapofi, including the deputy Ministers such as Modestus Amutse, Royal ǀUiǀoǀoo, Alexia Manombe-Ncube, Emma Kantema-Gaomas, Jennely Matundu, Lucia Witbooi, Heather Sibungo, Bernadette Jagger and Faustina Caley, these are all experienced cabinet Ministers and deputy Ministers.
According to another analyst, “if the new generation lacks the necessary experience or is unable to unite the party, it could create challenges. But if they are well-prepared, this could reinvigorate Swapo and help the party stay relevant in the future,” he said. I agree with this analysis saying that replacing stalwarts with younger politicians can bring fresh energy, new ideas and a more contemporary approach to governance. “However, the effectiveness of this strategy will depend on the competency and readiness of the younger leaders to handle the complex demands of the government”, he said.
All in all, the elections of 2019 have seen schisms within Swapo and rising discontent until the current acting President of Swapo Party and its presidential candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who herself was denied the post of Vice President of the country by virtue of being the Vice President of the party, kept her promise of uniting the rank and file of the party and people from all corners of the country to reflect our unique Namibian identity weaved together with mastery in a common tapestry representing the diverse demographic of Namibia.
This is a far cry from the old divisions and purges. In this context, Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah seems to have truly kept her promise of uniting the Namibian people by treating them all equally as a mother nurtures her children without discrimination. That is a sign or harbinger heralding good things to come under the leadership of Namibia’s first female President if elected to the Presidency in November. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of my employer and this newspaper but solely my personal views as a citizen.
