Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

CoD Factions Headed for Court

Home Archived CoD Factions Headed for Court

By Kuvee Kangueehi Windhoek The feud in the Congress of Democrats (CoD) appears to be headed for court again. A faction led by party vice president, Nora Schimming-Chase, has vowed to approach the High Court for the second time. The faction that calls itself CoD Majority claims that CoD president, Ben Ulenga, and his group are in contempt of the High Court order, which was handed down last week. Moses Katjiuongua, the CoD Majority spokesperson, said his group would consult lawyers this morning to launch a new court application after the first meeting with the Ulenga group on Monday ended prematurely. Katjiuongua and Schimming-Chase walked out of the meeting after the two factions failed to agree on a number of crucial issues pertaining to organising a CoD congress, as per the High Court order. The two factions differ in their interpretation of the court order. The Ulenga faction believes that the ruling requires the CoD leadership that existed prior to the Keetmanshoop extra-ordinary congress to organise the upcoming congress, while Schimming-Chase argues that a neutral person should organise the congress. A party insider claims that Schimming-Chase has only realised now that the “legal victory they attained last week is an empty one” because the ruling puts Ulenga back into the driving seat. The insider added that the Schimming-Chase group has depleted over the last six months, as key members of her group have left the party. One of Schimming-Chase’s close allies Ignatius Shixwameni, who vigorously challenged Ulenga for the presidency at the last congress, has left the party and formed his own party taking along many of the Schimming-Chase supporters. The former secretary general of the CoD, Kalla Gertze, who should now have been at the helm of the party, passed away at the beginning of the year and Ulenga supporter, Rosa Namises, is the acting secretary general of the party. The party insider also believes that with Shixwameni gone, there is nobody strong enough in the party to challenge Ulenga for the presidency and that a congress will be a useless exercise, as the party will never unite again. The party faces a serious problem in organising the congress because most of the structures in the regions have collapsed since 2004. There is fear again that the two factions will hand pick their delegates to congress. The court ordered that if the party cannot agree on an individual to be the chairperson overseeing the elections, the Law Society of Namibia would be instructed to appoint a candidate. The Ulenga group has expressed concern about the order saying Advocate Esi Schimming-Chase, the daughter of Nora Schimming-Chase, is a council member of the Law Society and his group is concerned about impartiality. The CoD was formed in 1999. During the elections, they obtained seven seats and did particularly well in areas where sections of the population had become disaffected with Swapo rule, such as Rehoboth and Caprivi. The party is now fragmented and is unlikely to retain its five seats in Parliament in next year’s national election.