Lot Shikongo
Opuwo-Former environment minister Uahekua Herunga has dismissed information circulating on social media that he has joined the official opposition party Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), known until last week as the DTA.
A picture of Herunga with a PDM scarf around his shoulders was an internet hit yesterday.
In the photo, Herunga, who has resorted to farming after he was not reappointed as minister in 2015, is seen with an unidentified woman, whom sources say is his former learner when Herunga was a schoolteacher.
At a press conference held at Opuwo yesterday, Herunga categorically rejected the accusations that he has defected to the official opposition, while vowing to die as a member of the ruling party Swapo.
“I came a long way in my political history, even up to the level of a minister. How can it be possible now that I am joining the DTA? To gain what exactly?” an irate Herunga wanted to know.
Explaining the photo, the former minister narrated that he was hijacked while reading a newspaper around the Kamanjab area, when a convoy of PDM members approached him.
While in the process of greeting him, a member of the convoy threw his scarf on the former minister’s shoulders while others took pictures of him.
The alleged culprit later yesterday apologised for the harm he made to the reputation of Herunga.
“I humbly ask for an apology to my former minister. I know that I have blasphemed your name by sending your picture to the DTA WhatsApp group,” she reportedly said.
*Lot Shikongo is a senior information officer working for the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in Kunene Region.