UTOKOTA – The All People’s Party (APP) national treasurer Faustinus Wakudumo said people from Kavango East and Kavango West and from other tribes that liberated the country should also be honoured.
He claimed people from both the Kavango East and Kavango East are segregated when it comes to development projects.
Wakudumo made the remarks at an APP rally held at Utokota village in Mashare Constituency in Kavango East on Saturday.
Swapo dismissed the claims as untrue.
Wakudumo claimed liberation heroes from the Kavango and from other tribes have not yet been honoured by the government.
He said many people who fought in the war to liberate the country are not even buried at Heroes’ Acre near Windhoek. “We don’t want to be cheated anymore, we want Kavangos and other tribes to be recognised – they also took part in the liberation of this country. When veterans from Kavango die they are buried at their villages not at Heroes’ Acre. Why not at Heroes’ Acre? Many of our people also died liberating this country?” stated Wakudumo.
He said Eugene Kakukuru and Paulinus Kandjimi, among many others from Kavango East and West, should have been buried at Heroes’ Acre because they were PLAN fighters.
“But they say the country is independent for all of us which is a lie, some are going up and others are not. If you see where Swapo is originally from you will see their people are well taken care of and one can see that they are developed. Look at Omuthiya, what you will get there is not what you will find at Utokota – you can see that they are really benefiting from independence. Namibia is independent from being colonised by Boers but now we are being colonised by our fellow black people,” he said.
“Segregation is not good. Our country was liberated from white colonisers but then came colonisation amongst ourselves, which is ugly. Since we all don’t want to be colonised by other people we should vote and vote wisely for change and that is by voting APP to bring about change in your area which the ruling (Swapo) Party has failed to do. As you can see there is no development in Mashare Constituency,” he said.
“This year is a tough year as the country is going to shake, we are going to the polls to vote so everyone is free to vote for any political party that he or she deems fit, and we will not allow people to be chased around by some parties to vote for them,” he said.
Wakudumo said Utokota is a peaceful village and does not want people to be harassed or to be forced to vote for a party that has not developed the area for the past 24 years.
“We are all equal before the law, so don’t lie to yourselves that if Kavango residents legally form a political party then that person is second class or of less importance. APP is just like Swapo, RDP, UDF and other political parties. Even though the APP president is from Utokota this party like other parties also belongs to all Namibians who believe it represents their interests,” said Wakudumo.
He said the APP president Ignatius Shixwameni is a well known veteran politician though some people claim not to know him.
“He went to jail for this country and he led Nanso,” he told the APP faithful at the rally.
Also speaking at the rally, former DTA MP, Alois Gende, who joined APP early this year, implored potential voters to go out and vote for APP as according to him “this is the only political party that will bring development to the area”.
“I didn’t come to APP just because of wanting to join the party but because I have read the way they do things. I read their manifesto and I realised this is what I have been looking for in a party,” said Gende.
Gende stated that many political parties say many things such as providing free education. “But to date this has not been accomplished. I’m speaking about that because I am one of the people who really had free education during our time, everything regarding school was free, from blankets to school clothes and all that a school child needed. We ate for free and all we did was study. We didn’t struggle with exam fees that scholars are being pressured to pay in grades 10 and 12 and I even had free education in South Africa – but when will people see that? You can only see that achieved in APP,” stated the former DTA parliamentarian.
Meanwhile, the Swapo regional coordinator for Kavango East, Johanna Kandjimi, dismissed Wakudumo’s claims saying Swapo not only focuses on the northern regions but brings development to all Namibians.
She said: “What they are saying is not true, even last week Mashare Constituency also benefited from the 10 solar panels given by government. The Swapo government has built roads everywhere, including Mashare.”
She said government does not discriminate.
“It doesn’t say who you are, or ask to which tribe you belong. It is for all Namibians,” she said, adding all the regions have access to clean water, education and electricity.
“What they said is not true,” stated Kandjimi.
When asked what she thought about the comment regarding the burying of only some Namibians at Heroes’ Acre, she said: ““If you see someone talking like that then that is not politics. We are saying, One Namibia, One Nation. If one Namibian who took part in the struggle to liberate this country is buried at Heroes’ Acre, then all Namibians are represented, and all the heroes he mentioned from Kavango are not forgotten by the party.”