Windhoek
Job Amupanda says he is yet to decide whether or not to contest for the position of executive chairperson of the National Youth Council.
“I’m not sure, my PhD is demanding. I will see how it goes,” Amupanda told New Era last week.
The National Youth Council will hold its long-awaited general assembly on December 17 to 19, where a new leadership will be elected.
Mandela Kapere has occupied the position for the past 10 years and the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) again nominated him as its candidate for the position at the SPYL central committee meeting earlier this month.
A confident Kapere yesterday confirmed that he would stand to run for another term. Candidates backed by the SPYL at the NYC’s elective general assembly always emerge successful, mainly because of the influence of the ruling party’s youth wing.
The SPYL central committee also nominated Ephraim Nekongo, Sokobiso Mbingano, Tuyeni Kandume and Sharonice Busch to serve on the NYC board.
Amupanda was until July a SPYL leader, but his time in the youth wing came to an end when the ruling party opposed his involvement in the Affirmative Repositioning movement – together with other SPYL leaders George Kambala and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma.
The three were expelled, along with former SPYL secretary Elijah Ngurare, and it appears SPYL has turned into a cold place for those members who supported Ngurare, seeing as the Nekundi-led faction is now in full control of the youth wing.
During the Nanso congress earlier this year the two factions were at it again, with the Ngurare faction lobbying for one of the presidential candidates and the Nekundi camp supporting the other.
The fights got so intense that the Kapere-led NYC suspended Nanso from all its activities. Nanso then took NYC to court and managed to have the suspension lifted.
The NYC constitution stipulates that the board and the representative council are obliged to convene the general assembly every four years to elect a new leadership. The current board and chairperson were elected in 2010, meaning their term ended last year.