Edward Mumbuu
WALVIS BAY – Around 300 Affirmative Repositioning (AR) activists descended on the coastal town of Walvis Bay over the weekend to adopt their constitution and chart the movement’s future as it edges closer to becoming a full-blown political party.
After protracted discussions that commenced on Friday, the delegates put pen to paper around 04h00 on Sunday early morning to officially launch their movement, which, since inception, largely operated on an ad hoc basis.
“[The] Affirmative Repositioning (AR) is herewith established as a radical and leftist revolutionary voluntary association uniting social justice activists that seeks to quarantine and liquidate the capitalist and neoliberal order that characterise post-colonial Namibia,” reads part of the AR constitution.
AR was founded in November 2014 by Job Amupanda, George Kambala and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma.
Embedded in the AR’s doctrine are three socialists: the late Burkina Faso leader Thomas Sankara, German philosopher Karl Marx and French’s Frantz Fanon.
“AR is a Marxist-Fanonian-Sankarist movement that is anti-capitalist in character. It is the Marxist-Fanonian-Sankarist school of thought that informs AR’s outlook in analysing the world, the state and society, and further guides the conduct of the movement and its activists,” the document further reads.
Between now and August 2023, AR will also elect its top leaders. All indications are that the leftist movement is transforming itself into a fully-flagged political formation ahead of the 2024 general election. A glance at the AR constitution shows that the leftist formation has taken a bottom-up posture, with its basic unit being ‘the community’, followed by districts, regions and national level.
“Go to the ground and fertilise the ground,” said Knowledge Ipinge, one of AR’s senior figures. There is a consensus among delegates that the process was not rushed.
“It was not an easy process. We did not rush the process. There is a clear separation of powers. There is respect for every activist. It is a well-thought, well-informed and future-oriented document,” said Johannes Johannes, affectionately known as activist ‘Jay-Jay’ in the AR circles.
Speaking on the same day, the movement’s chief activist Job Amupanda indicated that while the movement welcomes constructive criticism, it will not allow others to be dictated for.
“We use Marxist tools of analysis to critique, and understand the society in general but the capitalist society in particular. We still believe that Marxism is quite a useful lens to be able to understand society,” Amupanda.
More so, Amupanda noted that AR’s core objective will be to restore the dignity of Namibians by addressing the housing and land question.
Fights
The AR house has not been short of drama. In recent times, AR’s top brass have engaged in public spats, with former spokesperson Simon Amunime and erstwhile head of elections Paulus Kathanga teaming up to pen a scathing letter in which they accused Amupanda of corruption and greed.
They also demanded a rotation of AR’s Windhoek municipal councillors to allow unemployed activists a chance to make a living from the city’s lucrative perks.
The two were later removed from their positions. Kathanga has since left the movement. AR’s co-founder, Nauyoma, has seemingly vanished into thin air as far as the movement’s work is concerned.
In May, he informed AR about his unavailability to serve in any structure. Asked at a press conference recently what AR has done to resolve its internal wars, Amupanda downplayed the drama, equating it to a “storm in a cup of tea”.
Since landing a seat at the city council, Amupanda has also been accused of taking an elitist posture. The fact that the AR chief activist has never been arrested has also led to former allies questioning his credentials and commitment.
“We don’t argue that activists must be arrested to prove activism. That is just foolishness of the highest order. What are you going to do when you are arrested? There is nothing strategic about getting arrested. But of course, when our activists are arrested, we have to give them moral support,” he said.
“And we don’t wish any activist to be arrested because that is an instrument the regime uses to suppress voices, to weaken and show that ‘if you stand up, this is what is going to happen.”
Those who accuse him of corruption should approach the antigraft commission, Amupanda challenged.
– emumbuu@nepc.com.na