The Swapo Party will towards the end of this year hold its elective congress where a new top leadership will be elected to steer the ruling party for another five years.
The top posts up for grabs include that of party president, vice president, secretary general and deputy secretary general.
The congress will also elect members of the central committee from where the influential politburo would be picked from.
As customary, the countdown to the mother body’s elective congress is a topical issue among those harbouring political ambitions as well as those who are still trying to come to terms with the party’s performance in the last Presidential and Parliamentary elections and the Local Authority and Regional Council elections. In both elections, the ruling party lost some ground to the opposition, including falling short of the symbolically important two-thirds majority in parliament.
Now as the focus shifts to the intra-party democracy within the party, there is enough reason to believe there is a high likelihood for yet another largely contested Swapo elective congress.
As it is, party leaders are playing their cards close to their chests, while intense campaigning is rumoured to be the order of the day behind the scenes.
President Hage Geingob, who is constitutionally still eligible to contest a second term as party president, has in the past hinted he will not be seeking another term to lead the ruling party.
In an interview on the eve of his 80th birthday last year, Geingob told New Era, prospective candidates vying for the party top posts should slug it out on their own and not expect the guided democracy principle to come into play. The guided democracy principle was used as a succession plan in Swapo, which saw Founding President Sam Nujoma nominating former president Hifikepunye Pohamba as his anointed successor.
After serving two terms as head of State, Pohamba, while also serving as Swapo president abruptly left his Swapo presidency position, paving way for Geingob to succeed him. The stakes are equally high this time around and it will be interesting to see how the party goes around the succession issue as congress approaches. However, Swapo can ill-afford to allow disunity and discord to dictate the agenda.
The danger of institutionalised factionalism, indiscipline and disunity are all well documented judging by past experiences, which have seen breakaway factions formed.
This week, Swapo chief administrator Sophia Shaningwa warned members against coming up with toxic slates ahead of the congress. “We are cognisant that due to the political architecture and nature of contestation, people always tend to form groupings.
“However, we have learned from previous years that groupings, factions or teams shall not do us any favour. We must be able to go into such internal elections united, and also emerge more united in the name of our party,” Shaningwa told party leaders and staff in Windhoek this week.
In July 2020, during the closing ceremony of a three-day introspection conference in Windhoek, Geingob implored ruling party leaders to “bury” and end slate politics. Indeed, the party will face a tougher test of character at the upcoming elective congress, which can yet be described as a watershed make or break moment.
As contestations and campaigning for Swapo roles take centre stage in the coming months, it is our sincere hope that the political mudslinging and petty infights will not derail service delivery across the country. Personal ambition and Swapo interests should not come before that of the nation.