Suzith Tjitaura
KEETMANSHOOP – Winning elections in the future will not be a walk in the park for the ruling Swapo Party if it does not deliver on its promises.
This, in essence, was mines minister Tom Alweendo’s clear message to Swapo’s //Kharas regional leadership over the weekend.
The politician said there is no guarantee that the Swapo Party will continue to rule for another 30 years if party leaders do not do what the electorate expects of them.
He added that the success of the party in the past was based on those who were in leadership managing to convince people that Swapo was the right party.
“We have ruled this country for 33 years. Things went well, yet we didn’t do all we wanted to do. But there is no guarantee we will emerge victorious, going forward. It’s not a given that it will happen because it happened before. Going forward, we as leaders are in a position again to convince the people that we are the right party,” he added.
Alweendo, who is also a national leader assigned to //Kharas, said leaders should address issues and concerns of the electorate as it makes no difference for those put into power to address issues which do not concern or influence the people.
“We are here because people put us here, and they have concerns and issues. If we have to address those issues, we need to understand them first, and then create programmes that will address them,” he stated.
Swapo party regional coordinator for //Kharas, Matheus Mumbala, urged party members to invest their energy and time in positive activities towards development, saying Swapo members should be the driving force for the developmental agenda, and not reactionaries or opportunists.
“We become reactional and emotional when the opposition does something. We are the government. We have the right to push the ministers to bring development to our people,” he said.
The meeting served, among other objectives, to introduce the new national leaders assigned to the
//Kharas region.
Other leaders are Member of Parliament Lucia Witbooi, Laurencia Stephanus, Steve Ovambo, Tuuliki Abraham, Gaudentia Krohne and higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi.
– Nampa