Ngaijake Sam Tjikuzu
It has become imperative for us to re-state in affirmative the genesis that constitutes the basis of the predicament in which Swanu of Namibia finds itself. It will never be our cup of tea to prescribe or dictate the format of balanced and fair reporting, suffice to say that we are perturbed by the superficial or lack of in-depth on issues such as this one, which media fraternity has the prerogative to seek a blow-by-blow account from the other party (faction) if they so wish, instead of relegating this release to the periphery and disregard the essence of the release.
The party in terms of the constitution is supposed to hold annually four central committee meetings, which after the last one in April 2018 were never held. The central committee is charged and entrusted with the responsibility of giving a final ratification to the appointments of the political bureau (PB) initiated by the president if this was not done at the rostrum of the national congress.
Given the anomaly of not having had sessions of the central committee meetings since April 2018, aggrieved branches in May 2021 convened a meeting to remedy the situation at which a resolution was taken to hold an extraordinary congress, which took place on 21 August 2021. The event provided the party with a de jure leadership after a resolution on motion of no-confidence in the central committee and PB passed at the May 2021 all branches meeting was ratified, was construed as a ‘sin committed’ and the previous leadership tenaciously decided to cling to power and defied the outcome of the extra-ordinary congress.
Having now realised the anomaly, six days after the extraordinary congress, apparently they started with the suspension of members, including de jure leadership elected at the extra-ordinary congress, via WhatsApp, and five days thereafter proceeded to court without even appraising or disclosing to the court that they started with an internal disciplinary process.
Also now cognizant of the flagrant and blatant violation of Swanu’s constitution of not having had central committee meetings for four years, two months after the extra-ordinary congress was held, Dr Tangeni Iijambo’s leadership purportedly held a central committee meeting in October 2021, retrospectively, to show compliance with the constitution at which the minutes of the April 2018 central committee meeting were ratified. Also, to ratify the appointments he made on the PB over the last four years. This is clearly a vindictive, concrete, practical and candid admission of the anomalies, giving impetus to the charge that both the central committee and PB were dysfunctional and the latter was functioning without quorum and authority.
The de facto leadership under Iijambo roped in service of a pilot, a newcomer in Swanu politics in a personality of Evilastus Kaaronda to champion diatribe, virulent and slanderous attack on Swanu members and former prominent leaders, skilfully engineered a process that within a timeframe of less than a year landed him shamefully and purportedly a Swanu presidency at a clandestine national congress held in Okahandja in April 2022. We have already alerted the media (both print and electronic) on 13 April 2022 about the eminent clandestine national congress that was by then mooted.
Unfortunately, that was not newsworthy to the media that try to relegate to a footnote the party that represents the wishes and aspirations of Namibians apparently on account of lack of numbers, though qualitative it made and continues to make enormous contributions to the political landscape. If due regard is given to land issues, consideration of an idea of sovereign wealth fund by the government and the enjoyment of fair NBC airtime allocation to political parties are all because of Swanu.
As we write, the party has two factions, one under Charles Katjivirue and another one under Evilastus Kaaronda as presidents who we feel was triggered by ‘charterists’ (from Freedom Charter) who believe that leadership in Swanu belongs to neonates who even have not started crawling and those who believe that Swanu is not a prostitute to belong to anybody to borrow from those in South Africa in 1955 who said that contrary to the notion in Freedom Charter that South Africa belong to all who lives there, they were of the opinion that descendants of Jan van Riebeek who arrived in 1652 do not qualify.
The above constitutes the problems in which Swanu finds itself.
Be that as it may, Swanu leadership under Charles Katjivirue as it intended and did attempt to participate in the national congress hoping to remedy the procedural deficiencies and to ask the national congress as the highest decision-making body to grant congress organisers condonation for non-compliance with the provision of the constitution was locked out of the national congress, yet the purported leadership emanating from the result of sham, bogus, clandestine national congress is expecting acceptance from members.
The minimum, reasonable and legitimate demand is the convocation of a proper central committee, that should pave the way inter alia for withdrawal of lawsuit; convocation of proper Swanu national congress under the auspices and supervision of eminent persons within Swanu appointed by both parties to the dispute as suggested by former president Usutuaije Maamberua to pave a way for harmonisation and unification of the party.
We are ready to relinquish the de jure leadership elected at the extraordinary congress and provided the de facto leadership elected at the clandestine national congress does the same. Last but not least, although it is desirable as a party to be represented in the parliament come 2024 and the recipe thereof is when we avert factions as political analysts are suggesting, while we concur with those sentiments we are simultaneously carriers of bad news and we wish to state here loud, bold and unequivocal that we don’t view ourselves as a short-term political project of DTA, CoD and RDP which at the inception had 23, 9, 8 MPs respectively.
The former over the years had 23, 15, 8, 4 MPs before the 16 MPs they obtained recently. We are a party of ideological conviction and not short-term political expediency and cleansing the party of hitch-hikers and ideologically-drained elements is our 24/7 pre-occupation to give effect to the raison d’être for the existence of Swanu.
* Ngaijake Sam Tjikuzu is the Swanu secretary general opposing the faction led by disputed party president Evilastus Kaaronda.