National Unity Democratic Organisation has blasted critics who label the party as a ‘Swapo side chick for its purported close links and cooperation with the ruling party.

A ‘side chick’ locally refers to a woman who is in a relationship with a man but has lower status than his wife, wives or proclaimed girlfriend.

In the case of Nudo, it is used to mean the party is a mere extension of Swapo, something that does not sit well with the colourful politician.  

Joseph Kauandenge shrugged off the tag, saying those holding such a view are hypocritical.

According to him, the appointment of Nudo president Utjiua Muinjangue as deputy health minister or the recent election of Nudo deputy secretary general Joseph Uapingene as Windhoek mayor does not imply that the party is in cahoots with Swapo.

Muinjangue was appointed by Swapo leader President Hage Geingob, while Uapingene ascended to the apex of the Windhoek leadership through a nomination and secondment, sponsored by Swapo councillors.

In Kauandenge’s eyes, the opposition, as a collective, has to get its house in order, instead of pointing fingers at Nudo.

“These parties must stop their hypocrisy as well. In Windhoek, they don’t want to work with Swapo because Swapo is an animal. But the same parties are in coalitions with Swapo in other places across this country.

“The very same who don’t want to work with Swapo here [in Windhoek] are in coalition with Swapo in the south at the coast,” an irate Kauandenge charged.

Late last year, he said, opposition parties in Windhoek formed a silent coalition with Swapo to dislodge the then Independent Patriots for Change-dominated management committee.

“Now, when did Swapo become an animal that nobody can work with? Or is it because [in this case] Nudo got the position of mayor?” a puzzled Kauandenge wanted to know.

Before Uapingene’s election, Kauandenge called for an urgent meeting, attended by all opposition parties on the Windhoek council, to fill vacant positions of mayor, deputy mayor and the five management committee members.

Kauandenge’s attempts ended in a cul-de-sac after the parties failed to reach a consensus.

“We [Nudo] could’ve [accepted being called] a ‘side chick of Swapo’ if, as oppositions, we agreed on that day to say ‘this is our plan of action as opposition when we go to the city chambers’, and we derailed from that agreement.

“But when we entered, the opposition was fragmented,” Kauandenge berated.

Opposition parties have a combined 10 seats. Swapo has a mere five.

“We can blame Nudo as much as we want, but when our mayor [Uapingene] ended up there, he was nominated as a city councillor, not as a Nudo member. He is a city councillor who took the oath to serve all Windhoek residents.

After Kauandenge’s clip from yesterday’s presser went viral, Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader – a Windhoek municipal councillor – retweeted: “Has there ever been a side chick that has admitted in public that they are a side chick?”

The opposition, an analyst opined, is skating on thin ice.

“A failure by council may force the minister of Urban and Rural Development to invoke Section 92 of the Local Authorities Act, and that will mean suspension of the councillors and vesting the powers of the council in the minister,” political analyst Natjirikasorua Tjirera recently cautioned.

Kauandenge agrees with the warning.

He added the theatrics of opposition councillors play right into the hands of the Swapo-led government

“The minister can, if these councils are rendering themselves ineffective, take someone from the street, dissolve council and put that person to run that council,” he added.

They will have nobody to blame but themselves when urban minister Erestus Uutoni pulls the plug, he continued.

Uutoni has summoned the warring Windhoek municipal leadership factions to an urgent meeting this morning.

The meeting will deliberate on the leadership impasse at the city, why it has failed to appoint a substantive CEO and why two positions on the management committee remain vacant.

On the vacant CEO position, Uapingene’s position is that the second candidate in the interview, Otjiwarongo’s Moses Matyayi, must be given the offer as per the council recommendation.

- emumbuu@nepc.com.na