Windhoek
The Communist Party of China has promised to donate N$500 000 to the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) to fund the youth league’s role in the establishment of the Africa-China Young Leaders’ Forum.
The information is contained in a Swapo central committee document, which also outlined the party’s ongoing plans to establish a party school.
The record indicates the ruling party hosted a delegation from the Communist Party of China last month for bilateral talks.
“The discussions centered on furthering cooperation between the two parties as well as to strengthen cooperation with other progressive political parties on the African continent,” states the report.
This publication wanted to establish whether the donation had already been made and also the latest regarding the party’s plans to establish a party school, but Swapo secretary general Nangolo Mbumba on Tuesday refused to answer questions relating to the report.
“Go and ask the person who gave you the document, I will not discuss documents of the party with you,” said Mbumba.
A 15-man Swapo delegation is scheduled to visit China in September following an invitation from their Chinese counterparts, states the report.
September’s scheduled trip comes months after a three-man Swapo delegation headed by Oshikoto regional coordinator Armas Amukwiyu visited China in May.
The trip was primarily orchestrated to learn how the Communist Party runs its party school programmes, identification of those who qualify for enrolment, the methods of training through the party school and the levels of such training.
A congress resolution of 2002 gave birth to the plan to start a Swapo Party school to teach members the history of the party and to encourage research.
In 2006, Swapo Party took the first major step towards establishing a party school modelled along the ones run by the Communist Party in China. That year it hosted a delegation of experts from the International Department of the Communist Party who participated in a three-day workshop with members of the Swapo central committee.