WALVIS BAY - Walvis Bay Urban by-election independent candidate Knowledge Ipinge said he is confident of victory ahead of Wednesday’s vote. The by-election will see Ipinge contesting against Swapo’s Sirie Topulathana, Richard Hoaseb of the PDM, as well as fellow independent candidate Kennedy Iilonga.

Ipinge, during his final campaign meeting in Kuisebmund at the weekend, said his short-term goal is to address the lack of housing in the constituency and provide land for landless residents. “Our manifesto is about walking the talk. Be rest assured we have already planted a seed by making these demands from the Walvis Bay municipality, which should be addressed before 30 April,” he said.

 Ipinge was supported at Saturday’s meeting by LPM deputy leader Henny Seibeb, who called on smaller parties to stand together, with the hope of defeating Swapo in the upcoming local and regional authority elections. “Gone are the days of lying corrupt politicians. It is time that we hold them accountable and take over the affairs of the country,” Seibeb told the about 400 supporters, including the unemployed seamen that attended the public meeting.

Seibeb added his party was also being supported in other constituencies where they enjoy massive support. “This should be the norm going forward. We should support any party that have a stronghold in a specific constituency. So, let us give Ipinge a chance and get rid of the evil monster called Swapo,” he said.  He added that Namibians are tired and want things to be done differently. “All of us want houses, jobs and better lives. Hence, we need to do things differently and unite for a common purpose by standing together like the independent candidates and LPM are doing. We need to govern Namibia come November in terms of the local authority elections too. We must govern together towns – eight regions to be precise,” he said.

 He added that by standing together, political parties will be able to break Swapo’s dominance. “We need to govern eight regions in Namibia and we can only succeed if we support one another. This is the way going forward if we want to oust the corrupt Swapo government,” he said. Seibeb added that politics is long gone past the stage where parties operated in isolation.