The United Peopl e’s Moveme nt (UPM) grabbed media attention after the Speaker of National Assembly, Peter Katjavivi, chucked them from parliament on the instruction of their then alliance partner, Popular Democratic Movement.
But who is the UPM? This week, New Era journalist Lahja Nashuuta (LN) visited the party’s headquarters in Rehoboth and had an interview with its president, Jan Van Wyk.
LN: So who really is UPM? Tell us more.
JW: UPM was established in 2010 and registered with the ECN on 27 July 2010. It’s a Christian political party. Our constitution makes it very clear that we recognize God as the supreme leader. As a Christian party, we try to work on the ground and to educate our people around our Christian values.
We have seen that after so many years of independence, moral
values have dropped. There is no more respect from the younger generation od elders by and you can name it.
We have been in the Hardap region for some time, and we have now started to roll out to other regions, but Hardap remains our base, sort of our stronghold. What we are trying to do is to encourage people to be part of the political system in this country.
We have seen that a lot of people are not interested in voting because of empty promises made to them. On our side, we have been trying to get more people out of the system for some time now.
LN: A lot has been happening to your party, starting with internal issues, being thrown out of Parliament and the court cases and so forth. It seems trouble started with the suspension of your secretary general.
JW: Discipline is very important to us. If a member, especially senior members, are unruly or misbehave, then of course we
need to address it and that is what the party did, to address matters of concern and that was not acceptable to these people. The Central Committee (of the party) had to take a decision to terminate their membership of the UPM. Hence, they are no longer members because they were not prepared to accept party decisions.
LN: You entered an alliance with Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) in 2019, which resulted in UPM gaining three seats in the National Assembly. What informed your decision to enter this alliance?
JW: Yes, UPM worked closely with the then DTA at that time. It was a decision of the leaders at that time to support the DTA in the 2009 elections. In 2010, we contested the local authority elections under the UPM. In 2014, we agreed to vote for the then president of the DTA and for the UPM in the National Assembly.
Now in 2019, we entered an alliance. The agreement indicated that for the presidential and National Assembly elections in 2019 and the regional local authority elections in 2020, we would work together as an alliance.
It went quite well in the beginning. We tried our best to keep the alliance together.
And then, of course, in 2023, the UPM called opposition political parties together to see whether we could form a bigger front to contest this year’s elections.
Unfortunately the other parties, including the PDA, were not interested because from the start, they wanted to have the leadership of the alliance or the coalition, whatever it would have been.
And then since there was nothing in the agreement saying in 2024 we should still support McHenry Venaani or the PDM, we decided we would go and support a better option, in the sense that Ally Angula is a God-fearing leader who is not ashamed to talk about God.
And for that decision, PDM decided to kick us out of parliament. The matter is still in court, unfortunately. Some delays from the side of the court.
Of course, it affected us very, very badly, especially the fact that we don’t have financial resources to really roll out our campaign.
Maybe just to mention that from the 01 April until the 01 October this year, we lost N$1.75 million that was supposed to come to assist us with the campaign that is now in the coffers of the PDM – and they are campaigning with this money comfortably.
So, we wait for the court case and see what happens. But for now, we are concentrating on this election campaign. And see what we will get from the voters out there.
LN: You decided not to contest for presidential election and rallied behind Ally Angula, who was to contest as an independent candidate. Why betray PDM?
JW: When the UPM was formed, it was agreed that we would only contest National Assembly elections, regional council
elections and local authority elections. And it’s for that reason that we previously supported the DTA and the PDM.
So, if we need to fill the presidential position, of course, we need to amend first our constitution – part of the constitution.
It is for that reason that the executive committee took a decision that, this time around, we are going to support another candidate because from 2009, we supported one party president.
And it’s quite clear that the people out there, the voters out there, are not interested in the candidate that they are taking on the podium to be voted for.
So, we were saying, this time around, we are going to look at a different candidate. A candidate who is a young person, capable, and therefore we went for Ally Angula.
And we don’t regret that. We took that decision, and we stood by it, and she remained with us. And, of course, we will support her in 2029 as an independent presidential candidate.
It was a bit disappointing for us to realise that she would not make it. But it was just because of the system. We were with her all the time and it’s just that we could not load all the information on the system.
Otherwise, she would have been part of these elections. But yes, she stood with us, and we will continue supporting her.
LN: Now that Ally Angula is not going to contest presidential elections. Which candidate are you going to support? Why not back PDM?
JW: We will answer within the next week or so. Of course, we need to give direction to our voters out there. Because there are a lot of Ally Angula supporters that will vote for us for the National Assembly, but we also need to give them direction.
So, yes, our people are still positive that 2029 she will come through. And we are quite sure the time has come for the women to lead this country.
LN: How is the campaign going so far? What are some of the hiccups?
JW: To be honest with you, it is going very slow. As I have said, it is difficult to reach all the areas. I just received a call yesterday that people want to see me in the poll.
It is just not possible right now. So, what we now do is to make use of our phones. Making use of social media to roll out our campaigns. And of course, in the different areas we are having our candidates on the ground. Going to communities and spr e a d i ng the message.
LN: Give us the hint of your national assembly list?
JW: We h a ve about 72% youth representation on our party list. So, there is a lot of interest from the side of the youth. And I believe for the years to come, the youth will come through and we will hear their voice.
They have the opportunity through this representation on the youth party list for this year’s election, to elect youthful leaders into parliament to speak on their behalf.
In the top 10, we have five leaders of the youth league. And of cour s e, we have also on our list 59% women’s representation. That is also a very good thing for us. And of course, I think the UPM is the first party that could get together the former military forces.
They are also there with two representatives in the top 20. People living with disabilities are also represented in the top 20. Youthful people that have seen us moving around are coming to join the UPM.
LN: What is your party’s strength in these upcoming elections? Why do you think people must vote for you? What are some of the changes that the party is planning to bring forth if voted to power?
JW: We are realistic in saying we don’t have the numbers to take over the government.
Currently, youth involvement is our biggest asset, I would say. If we look at the past few years, we struggled to get the youth involved. This time around, we are happy that the youth are prepared to come out, to talk for themselves and to represent their peers.
We are saying yes, we have given that platform to the youth. They are ready to use it. It’s for them to get the thousands out there to the polls on the 27th and let them vote for them to get into the National Assembly and to represent them.
The other thing that we need to address is the urban land issue. We see a lot of shacks around this country because of land. Local authority councils don’t want to give land to people who don’t have money.
We are saying local authorities, where the UPM will get a majority next year, will give land to the people.
The fact that a person is staying in a shack doesn’t mean that the person doesn’t have money.
They might have money, but because of not having access to land, they are forced to live in that situation.
And we need to change that. We have tried to address it in the National Assembly, this thing of having urban land proclaimed its a nightmare.
It’s taking just too long to get land proclaimed in town councils or municipalities for that land to be occupied by people.
And in the meantime, people are squatting.
We need to address this issue of laws and regulations that prolong the suffering of the people. And the UPM will, if given the opportunity, through the youth, go out there and talk on behalf of the people.
So, my call to the youth out there is, through the UPM, you have the opportunity now to get yourself into Parliament. Go out there, vote for the UPM. And these young people, when they go in there, will keep them (government) on their toes.
-lnashuuta@gmail.com