Ongwediva
The National Unity Democratic Party (NUDO) has once again made inroads into one of Swapo’s strongholds in the Omusati Region, where it retained its seat on the Ruacana Town Council.
In other regions, the secretary general of Nudo, Meundju Jahanika, reported that his party was also able to retain one seat at Leonardville Village Council, three seats on Otjinene Village Council, three seats on Okakarara Town Council, one seat on Windhoek City Council and another on Swakopmund Town Council.
Nudo is said to be the only opposition party to have made gains in both the regional and local authority elections. Jahanika said his party also won over Swapo’s stronghold in Omatako Constituency and scooped a new seat on the Gobabis Town Council. In contrast to these gains, Nudo lost seats in Opuwo and Omaruru.
According to Jahanika, the retention of their seat in Ruacana – a strong Swapo stronghold – is an indication that the party means business and serves as encouragement to them to work harder and to expand to other constituencies and local authorities in Omusati Region.
“We have had that one seat since 2005 and to us it is an encouragement to work harder and increase our seats in Omusati Region,” Jahanika said. He further noted that their success in this year’s elections is testimony to the fact that Omusati is no longer a “no-go area” for opposition parties.
He noted that opposition parties have been campaigning freely and were able to participate freely in elections, something he said was not the case in the past. He said previously even posters of opposition parties would be destroyed.
Nudo’s candidate in Ruacana, Munehepa Daniel Unaro, said his party would push for the youth in the area to get access to land. “We have enough serviced land in Ruacana, hence we will prioritise giving land to the residents of Ruacana.” He said his party would also tackle youth unemployment to ensure that the young are prioritised in terms of employment in the area. Nudo would further strategise to secure grants or loans to kickstart new start-up businesses.