WINDHOEK – The Swapo Party politburo will decide whether Marina Kandumbu will go to parliament or not, the party’s secretary general Nangolo Mbumba has revealed.
After the party’s top four unanimously blocked Kandumbu from being sworn in to the National Assembly without consulting the politburo, it now comes as a surprise to many that the politburo is suddenly being dragged into the issue.
“We are waiting for the political bureau to pronounce itself once the president [Swapo president Hifikepunye Pohamba] returns to Windhoek after the Easter weekend,” said Mbumba in a letter sent to Swapo Party regional coordinator for Kavango West David Hamutenya last week.
The politburo is yet to get together for its monthly meeting, but talk is rife that a special politburo meeting to bring closure to the saga will soon be convened.
Kandumbu was last year convicted of corruption for allegedly renting out her government-subsidised house in Rundu.
She was found guilty of 55 counts of the charges by magistrate Helen Olayia in the Rundu Magistrate’s Court and fined N$100 000 or five years’ imprisonment, of which N$90 000 or four years were suspended on condition that she repays N$87 887 of the subsidy she received in 31 instalments of N$3 000 from November 27 2014, according to documents in New Era’s possession.
Mbumba’s letter to Hamutenya came days after Swapo vice-president Hage Geingob, in a bid to uphold his policy of inclusivity, called on Mbumba to make arrangements for Kandumbu to be sworn in to the National Assembly after the party removed her from the list.
Kavango West currently has no representative in the National Assembly, apart from Hamunyera Hambyuka who was not elected but made it as one of former president Hifikepunye Pohamba’s ten appointees. As a result, Hambyuka has no voting rights in parliament.
Describing the situation as a “dilemma,” Geingob told Mbumba that Kandumbu’s exclusion from the National Assembly would not bode well for the party’s policy of inclusivity.
“Furthermore we have a dilemma regarding the Kavango West Region. At the moment there is no comrade from that region in Cabinet and given the incident of Comrade Kandumbu, it will not bode well for our policy of inclusivity,” stated Geingob.
Geingob suggested to Mbumba that Kandumbu be sworn in unless she has been found guilty and not given an option to pay a fine – she did get the option of a fine that she is currently paying off.
Last month Mbumba wrote to Kandumbu saying: “The position of the leadership of Swapo Party wants you to consider voluntarily withdrawing from the parliament list due to the nature of your case. The leadership of the party shall withdraw you from the list should you fail to do it yourself.”
Mbumba had rounded off the letter, seen by New Era, by saying the decision is not his alone but of the top four.
Swapo decided to prevent her from going to parliament despite the Namibian Constitution clearly stating: “No persons may become members of the National Assembly if they: (a) have at any time after independence been convicted of any offence in Namibia, or outside Namibia, and for which they have been sentenced to death, or to imprisonment of more than 12 months without the option of a fine, unless they have received a free pardon or unless such imprisonment has expired at least 10 years before the date of their election.”