Despite threats by the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters and Christian Democratic Voice to mount a legal challenge against it, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) maintains that its decision to deregister the political parties is beyond reproach.

This follows the ECN’s earlier decision to deregister both parties as political entities for failure to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act, specifically sections 139, 140, 141 and 158.

Under sections 139, 140, 141 and 158 of the Act, all political parties are obligated to declare their assets and liabilities, keep records and audit their accounts, disclose foreign and domestic donors, 

account for funds received from taxpayers, and also publish an abridged version of their accounts in at least two daily newspapers circulating throughout Namibia within seven days of submission to the ECN.

The Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) and Christian Democratic Voice (CDV) have since maintained their innocence, and last week wrote to the ECN through their lawyers, demanding that the electoral body retract its decision as the parties had until 30 June to meet the requirements as per the Act.

Failure by the ECN to consider their requests saw both parties threatening to drag the commission to court.

In the same statement, the ECN also announced it had now also deregistered the Democratic Party of Namibia (DPN).

In the face of the legal threats and potential protests, ECN chief electoral and referenda officer Petrus Shaama issued a statement on Thursday, in which he maintained that the commission will not reverse its decision.

CDV sins

Shaama went further to state that they welcome any legal challenge which the parties plan to throw at them.

“With emphasis on the three political parties, which have been deregistered, the commission’s details of engagement are as enumerated ad seriatim below: Christian Democratic Voice (CDV) attended the one-on-one engagements, and following that, only submitted the audited financial statement for the 2021/2022 financial year. The compliance documents in respect of sections 139 and 141 were only submitted on 13 May 2024. The commission engaged in a series of correspondences and subsequent reminders, cautioning against the deregistration consequence. In the commission’s final reminder dated 25 April 2024, this political party was granted a 14-day extension, which lapsed on 10 May 2024, to submit all outstanding documents or be deregistered. Nothing has been submitted to date, and this formed the basis for its deregistration,” emphasised Shaama.

He added: “As for the Democratic Party of Namibia (DPN), correspondence addressed to the authorised representative was never responded to. The non-compliance persisted, hence the deregistration. As for the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), we reiterate, as expressed earlier on, having engaged in several meetings and through correspondences with all political parties. The authorised representative received the correspondences in question referencing sections 139 and 141 and the consequences thereto from 26 November 2021, and only responded to same on 19 December 2023. The submission of audited financial statements as required by sections 140 and 158, respectively, dating back from 2020 to 2023, remained outstanding…”

“From the one-on-one engagements held in June 2023, the party undertook to lodge its audited financial statements for 2020/2021, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, and the abridged version publications in the newspapers by the set deadline of 30th of November 2023. We reiterate that this deadline was applicable to all political parties to submit the requisite documents. The commission records that the party, through a letter addressed to the commission by its auditor, requested an extension to submit these documents by 15 December 2023. However, the documents remained outstanding by the said deadline, which was self-imposed. Additionally, in correspondence from its auditors, the party undertook to submit the audited financial statements for 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 on 28 February 2024. Similarly, this undertaking was not honoured.”

Deadline

The commission stated that the parties, particularly NEFF, were granted extensions of 14 days to comply or face deregistration, which was communicated to them on 25 April 2024, with a compliance deadline of 10 May 2024.

“Despite the deadline of 10 May 2024, the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 audited financial statements were only lodged with the commission on 31 May 2024. The 2022/2023 financial statements and abridged newspaper publications remain outstanding as of the date of deregistration. This remains the commission’s basis for the deregistration of the party, as detailed in the final reminder letter dated 25 April 2024, issued only to political parties with outstanding submissions. The commission never granted an extension to the compliance deadline of 10 May 2024 pertaining to the submission of the 2022/2023 audited financial statements and the abridged newspaper publications…”

“Section 158 of the Act provides that all political parties that are represented in Parliament must submit their audited financial statements within three months after the end of their financial year. As such, the commission undertook to remind all political parties represented in Parliament, whose financial years end in March (including NEFF), to submit their audited financial statements for the 2023/2024 financial year by 30 June 2024. We, therefore, wish to emphasise that the deadline of 30 June 2024 does not relate to records that should have been submitted on 10 May 2024.”

Apartheid tactics 

In a telephonic interview with Nampa on Friday, DPN president Adam Isaak confirmed that the party has been deregistered by the ECN, and accused the electoral body of applying apartheid-era tactics, where political parties were arbitrarily banned by the authorities.

“Like they were banned during the apartheid era, they are banning other parties because they have power now. They should know that history will repeat itself. Their time will come when they will also be banned,” fumed Isaak.

It now remains to be seen whether the NEFF, which had two seats in the National Assembly, and CDV, which had one seat, will still pursue legal action against the ECN.

Millions 

Between 2015 and 2023, N$1.3 billion of taxpayers’ money was dished out to political parties represented in Parliament.

Broken down, between 2015 and 2020, taxpayers coughed up N$679.5 million for political parties. From 2020 to 2023, N$592 million was allocated to political formations from the State.

However, despite the huge amounts the public invests in these political entities, little is known about how this money is spent.

Over the years, New Era has so often reported how most political parties are run like briefcase companies, and have little to nothing to show for the millions they receive, while accountability, especially when it comes to political party funding, is non-existent.

Worse still, without the necessary teeth to keep parties in check, the ECN’s hands – under whose auspices party funding resorts – are tied.

Consequently, most parties spent the public millions at their discretion, including on items such as vehicles for leaders and their spouses; dishing out loans to finance private agricultural activities of their leaders; paying leaders double salaries; and, in some instances, paying politicians whose roles have been reduced to sitting at home since being ejected from the National Assembly.

-ohembapu@nepc.com.na

(ECN Refuses)

Caption: Firm… ECN’s chief electoral and referenda officer, Peter Shaama.