Swapo President Hage Geingob has thrown his weight behind his lieutenant Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the heir to his throne at national level, albeit holding onto the party presidency until his term lapses in November 2027.
In a surprising turn of events, Geingob reneged on his earlier decision to hand over the Swapo presidency to Nandi-Ndaitwah ahead of the 2024 general elections, citing confusion within the party, adding that his bona fide gesture to step aside has been exploited by political opportunists.
In a statement, authored by the Presidency yesterday, Geingob is backing Nandi-Ndaitwah as Swapo’s presidential candidate at the next elections, putting to bed perceptions that he does not support the international relations minister. This is evidenced by Geingob’s pronouncement before the just-ended seventh ordinary congress that he is committed to working with any of the candidates winning the contested positions.
“That position has not changed… Therefore, there is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that the President is allegedly unhappy about the re-election of comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the vice president of the Swapo Party,” the statement reads.
“It follows from this that in accordance with paragraph 53 of the Swapo Party rules and procedures for election of party office-bearers and party representatives at legislative and government levels, comrade Nandi-Ndaitwah is the automatic candidate of the Swapo Party for the Presidency of the republic at the 2024 parliamentary and presidential elections. Thus, any debate around this question is absurd and of no consequence.”
Geingob also dismissed claims that he is driving a crusade to dislodge or undermine Nandi-Ndaitwah’s grip on the party, through holding an extraordinary congress to elect the Swapo president, just before the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly polls.
If anything, it is not up to Geingob to call for an extraordinary congress. Nandi-Ndaitwah has consolidated his power since ascending to the Swapo vice presidency at the just ended congress, while her supporters are also dominating both the Swapo central committee and politburo.
“In regard to the insinuation that the president intended to call an extraordinary congress with a view to somehow blocking comrade Nandi-Ndaitwah from becoming the party’s presidential candidate for the 2024 elections, the president categorically denies this malicious propagation of lies aimed at creating a divisive narrative within the party,” the Presidency rubbished the assertions.
When Geingob recently hinted to a possible extraordinary congress, it was purely aimed at handing over power to Nandi-Ndaitwah, the right way, as opposed to the hasty manner in which he was handed the tools by his successor, former President Hifikupunye Pohamba, back in 2015.
“The President, at the time, considered the fact that during 2015 when President Pohamba handed over the party’s presidential power to him, albeit in acting capacity and without an extraordinary congress, he was heavily accused of breaching the Swapo Party constitution and was publicly attacked with no support from the majority of members in the central committee,” the Presidency explained.
At the time, the talk of the town was “the party’s presidential powers could not be without a congress decision.
“The President mentioning an extraordinary congress, in passing, at the announcement of results at the seventh congress was simply a reference to a possibility of giving the party’s presidential powers, through the extraordinary congress, to comrade Nandi-Ndaitwah at the appropriate time so as to enable her to occupy both positions of party and the republic’s president.”
Geingob has, however, changed his mind. “Judging from the misguided reaction to and misinterpretation of such an idea and the potential for it to bring further uncertainty and malign speculation, President Geingob has since decided that he will fully serve his five-year constitutional term as the party president until the eighth congress,” the Presidency added.
That congress takes place in five years’ time: 2027. What has not changed is Geingob’s purported full support for Nand-Ndaitwah’s candidature as Swapo’s first female presidential candidate at the national level.
“Comrade Nandi-Ndaitwah will therefore stand, with his full support and confidence, as the party’s presidential candidate in 2024 whilst serving as the vice-president of the party – as was the case with President Geingob himself,” the Presidency buttressed.
Geingob then went on to urge Swapo supporters and members to register en masse in 2024 to vote for the party and its presidential candidate, Nandi-Ndaitwah.
What this means, partly, is that Geingob will still have an influence on who heads to parliament on a Swapo ticket in 2025, as the Swapo constitution empowers the party president to nominate 10 people to the party’s electoral college.
– emumbuu@nepc.com.na
(Geingob)
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