By Surihe Gaomas NKURENKURU In addressing his party’s star rally for Local Authority elections at Nkurenkuru on Sunday, DTA President Katuutire Kaura launched a scathing attack on the government accusing it of failing to adequately deal with issues of health and Zimbabwe. Close to 60 party supporters, including a group of about 20 UNITA Party members from Angola, were present at the DTA’s star rally as a sign of opposition political solidarity. From the onset, Kaura went on the offensive and posed questions on why the ruling SWAPO Party government is silent on recent happenings in Zimbabwe where opposition politicians were arrested and allegedly tortured bySstate agents. “President Mugabe is 83 years old, and he declared that next year he will still be running for the presidency again – to do what? There are thousands of Zimbabweans who are hungry every day, and Morgan Tsvangirai has been busted and has a cracked head. The Zimbabwean government is killing young people and beating them up. But our own government here is very quiet when Mugabe is doing all these things. Is there any respect for democracy then?” asked a fired-up DTA leader. Kaura condemned what he termed crimes against humanity in Zimbabwe. He asked why the silence from Namibia when its neighbour is in trouble. “I know it is ‘monkey see – monkey do’ for the SWAPO Government. If they see these things happening in Zimbabwe, it will happen in Namibia next time,” added Kaura to a cheering crowd. Referring to the current debate on morality in Parliament, Kaura added his voice to those saying that respect for elders and traditional chiefs in the country leaves much to be desired. “Ministers, permanent secretaries and directors are all running around with brand new Volvos, darkened windows with air conditioning, while our elders, our chiefs are walking on foot. Are our elders then respected?” Kaura wanted to know. “Ministers, permanent secretaries and directors are living in air-conditioned houses. Where do we find our chiefs? They sit in huts in this heat. What are we providing our elder chiefs with – nothing”. Kaura also voiced his concern about the state of unemployed youths. “Are we respecting our children when we throw them out of Grade 10 when they fail, when a senior citizen of 76 years of age is in university – are we really respecting our children?” Upon his visit to Nkurenkuru Hospital earlier that Sunday, the DTA President was shocked at the bad state in which the health facility was – 17 years after independence. “The Ministry of Health and Social Services is getting the second largest share of the Namibian budget, next to the Ministry of Education. But look at the Nkurenkuru Hospital that was erected years ago by the Finnish Mission. Government is letting the hospital go to waste. Does this government have any respect for humanity?” stressed Kaura. During his 25-minute-long speech, Kaura said the recent SWAPO Party star rallies at Nkurenkuru were attended by what he termed “rent a crowd.” “I’ve seen crowds being rented from other parts of the country to vote at Nkurenkuru, but they will not be allowed to vote come this Friday. When I saw these rented crowds, something must be seriously wrong with the SWAPO Party. It seems to me there are cracks in the ruling party. But DTA is steady, stable and without problems,” explained Kaura, adding that there was no need for two presidents to hold separate SWAPO Party rallies for one small Local Authority Election. He appealed to supporters to vote for DTA in order to bring about development projects to Nkurenkuru. “Vote for DTA so that we can bring change. If you vote for SWAPO things will remain the same,” Kaura concluded. The seven DTA candidates for the Nkurenkuru Local Authority Elections are Peter Kasanga, Stemo Joseph, Monica Kambembe, Elizabeth Ntjamba, Paulus Nyundu, Kefas Mbangu and Natalia Fernanda.