Kuzeeko Tjitemisa
Windhoek-Newly appointed Omaheke Swapo Party Women’s Council (SPWC) regional coordinator Justine Bernard has yet to occupy her political office in Gobabis, as former coordinator Bianca Van Wyk still refuses to vacate the premises.
This is despite a letter by SPWC secretary Eunice Iipinge last week requesting Van Wyk to hand over the office to the elected Bernard, who is the sister of Christine //Hoebes, the deputy minister in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Van Wyk vowed not to leave office until certain issues in the party are attended to. She said Bernard does not meet the SPWC requirement, as she has not been a member of the organ for the last ten years.
“Justice Bernard that is claimed to be the newly elected SPWC regional coordinator does not meet the SPWC requirements of holding a SPWC membership card for more than ten years,” she said, adding she has evidence to prove it.
In her response letter to Iipinge, copied to Swapo Party secretary general Nangolo Mbumba last week, Van Wyk made it clear that the handing over of the party office will only be possible if justice prevails, since a lot of injustice has been done to the SPWC regional executive elected on August 20, 2016 and that was apparently approved by the SPWC central committee.
“Does your office allow the Comrade Justina to lead the Swapo structures in Omaheke, yet she is not a member of the wing,” she asked in a letter referred to Iipinge.
In August last year Van Wyk was re-elected as regional coordinator for the Omaheke Region.
However, following the discovery of irregularities in the election process, Swapo Party’s main decision-making body, the politburo, set aside the August result and called for new elections, which Van Wyk lost to Bernardt in December.