Windhoek
Okahandja’s top politician and mayor Johannes ‘Congo’ Hindjou says a DTA membership card bearing his name is a forgery as he was never a member of the official opposition, and has remained steadfast in the fold of the ruling Swapo Party.
Swapo politicians serving in the council at the garden town of Okahandja have always been linked to allegations of dual membership, but some analysts believe this is due to ongoing purging within the party.
In 2013 this led to the dismissal and ostracizing of former Okahandja deputy mayor Paulina Gomusab after a Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) membership registration form bearing her details surfaced, which at the time was confirmed by the party.
In Hindjou’s case claims that he is a DTA member emerged shortly after he was elected as mayor but the intrigues recently intensified in a letter to Swapo secretary general Nangolo Mbumba, which urged that he be recalled from the council. This came after Mbumba wrote to all the party structures to prove any claims of dual membership linked to any Swapo politician.
Some senior party leaders in the Okahandja district who call themselves “loyal Swapo cadres” heeded the call and immediately wrote to Mbumba. To the letter they attached a scanned copy of what appears to be a DTA membership card in Hindjou’s name.
The card only has Hindjou’s name, his signature and signature of the DTA organiser. The copied scan, which is in colour, bears a commissioner of oath and police stamps from the Katutura charge office, dated March 3, 2013, confirming that it is a duplicate of the original one.
Hindjou dismissed the claims that he is a DTA member, adding that Okahandja is infamous for such cloak and dagger dealings.
“I have been a Swapo member and never left my party or joined other parties. This is just politics,” ” Hindjou maintained.
Oties Kenaumue, who is the DTA district coordinator at Okahandja, said: “I swear that I have been a DTA coordinator since 1977 and I have never registered Hindjou in my books.”
“All my registers are with me since that time, but I will tell you Hindjou has never approached my office or vice versa. I have never registered him. Hindjou is a well-known personality. I am sure that if he was a member of the party, even if not registered here, we would have known.”
DTA secretary general Manuel Ngaringombe told New Era that he cannot confirm nor deny the authenticity of the card.
“What I can say is that I cannot recall at any point Hindjou being a member of the DTA,” said Ngaringombe, who refused to field more questions on the matter.
In a letter dated October 3, 2016, Hindjou’s detractors also accused him of being a member or former member of the Nudo party.
However, Nudo secretary general Jahanika did not mince words when he rubbished the claims, saying Swapo people must simply come out with the truth on why they want Hindjou gone.
“Hindjou was never a member of Nudo. Those Swapo people must just say what they have against Hindjou,” Jahanika added.
“Whenever they want to get rid of each other they always claim that their members are Nudo members. So are they saying everything they do not want, belongs to Nudo?”
In the one page letter to Mbumba, the authors wrote that Hindjou acquired Swapo membership through a police declaration after allegedly losing his documents.