With promises to provide them with potable water and toilets, vocational training, jobs, an open market, a bus stop, and a fire station, residents of the Moses //Garoëb constituency head to the polls on Friday to elect a new councillor.
The by-election follows the death of councillor Aili Venonya in October last year.
Five candidates have put forth their names to take over the reign in the constituency of about 45 000 residents (according to the 2011 Census) with approximately 41 000 registered to vote in the by-election.
They are Swapo’s Stefanus Ndengu, Independent Patriots for Change (IPC)’s Moses Mwandingi, Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF)’s Nakale Shinime, and independent candidates Hashoongo Ndalifilwa and Hengobe Moses.
Besides “guaranteeing” to get residents potable water and toilets, Ndengu further promised to re-campaign, “not for votes anymore, but to listen to my people, and together we assess what they need to be addressed on urgency”.
“I cannot be a councillor of Moses
//Garoëb if I just say I am going to do this and that, but I have to listen to what they want,” he told New Era late last year.
For Ndengu, who has lived in the constituency since 2003, the concern is that there are some areas where people travel long distances to get water, and the lack of toilets is inhuman.
“Till today, people of Moses //Garoëb – when nature calls at night – use buckets and in the afternoon they engage in some tourist kind of programmes to go to the riverbed so they help themselves, and, I will arrest such,” he said.
The IPC too wants to “turn things around” in the constituency.
Its spokesperson Immanuel Nashinge said their candidate Moses Mwandingi is going to serve the constituency with all diligence as per the democratic practices of this country.
“Our candidate has a plan, he knows what the people want, he lives there and is knowledgeable of the struggles, and he is indeed the right man for the job,” he said.
Nashinge stated their priority is to drop unemployment levels among the youth in the constituency, saying “there is potential there, there is just no decisive effort to meet them halfway, and change livelihoods in that constituency even with small projects”.
“We are just waiting on how our people are going to express themselves on voting day,” asserted Nashinge, who is optimistic that the IPC will do well, considering they are already running one constituency (Windhoek East).
“You have seen how we took over the Erongo region, so, we mean business. We are not here for games,” said Nashinge.
NEFF, who campaigns on a platform of economic empowerment, has vowed to establish an open market, a bus stop and a fire station, and get residents to enrol in vocational training.
Commissar Nakale Shinime, who has lived in the constituency for more than 23 years, affirmed that he is going to make sure that the empowerment of people in Moses //Garoëb gains momentum in the development of the Khomas region. “People still do not have water, they still do not have electricity, we don’t have any facilities… I have taken a personal decision and that of our organisation to not just become a councillor but a servant of Moses //Garoëb,” explained Shinime.
“We need firefighters. We once had a shack on fire and it took firefighters more than three hours to reach the scene because there are no streets, just pathways, which makes it difficult for the firefighters to locate the scene.”
Besides the desire to unseat Swapo in the constituency, independent candidate Ndalifilwa’s mission is to provide electricity, water, and employment and to decrease crime.
Ndalifilwa, who said he was lobbied by a number of people in the constituency to stand as an independent candidate, noted that it is common knowledge that there are parts of Moses //Garoëb where there is no electricity, and no water close to the people.
“In some households, there’s no person working. What does it mean for a country which is known to be a peaceful country with a house of eight or 10 people and they are unemployed? I will change that notion,” he said. He further said the constituency is characterised by criminal activities where “criminals are all over like flies”, adding that hardworking people are not safe and they get robbed of their valuable possessions.
On Swapo SG Sophia Shaningwa’s appeal for independent candidates to refrain from using Swapo songs during their campaigns, he said: “I am no Swapo ally or associate, and I think one of my supporters made that video with a Swapo song in the background. It is not me personally.”
On his part, the second independent candidate Moses said it will be factually incorrect for one to pretend things are normal whilst the “naked evidence is one that dictates a need for an intervention”.
“We need to expand the business field of the constituency, and more business avenues must be made available to our people and should the expression of the voters on 6 January 2023 work in my favour, as a matter of urgency, an open market at Havana four-way stop will be erected within a short space of time – no later than four months,” he said.
Meanwhile, on 19 December 2022, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) in the presence of the contesting political parties, independent candidates and the Namibian Police sorted and packed the ballot papers, and seals were placed on ballot boxes for the by-election at 15 polling stations by the candidates. Polling teams will be dispatched tomorrow when verification of seals on the boxes will be done by contesting political parties and independent candidates.
Yesterday, ECN said it would issue duplicate voter cards for those who lost theirs. It said it was ready to conduct the polls.