2017-11-14Staff Report 2 Selma Ikela Windhoek-Former DTA president Katuutire Kaura has cast aspersions on the newly renamed Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), saying rebranding the party from the DTA would lead to its demise. Kaura was DTA president for 15 years, before he was ousted democratically in 2013 when the youthful McHenry Venaani won the presidency, which sent the veteran politician to the periphery of mainstream politics. Kaura literally disappeared off the political scene until he was appointed as advisor to the late Kunene governor Angelika Muharukua in 2015. In a surprise move at Grootfontein on Sunday, Kaura was announced as a new member of the ruling party Swapo, where he attended President Hage Geingob’s campaign rally for the Swapo presidency. Kaura, who served as a member of the DTA for 40 years and had contested a number of national presidential elections, spelled doom for the rebranding of the DTA to PDM. “The party is no more. In fact, I didn’t go from one party to another. I was left in the open. I had to go for another political party and look for a political home,” Kaura told New Era upon enquiry, disputing suggestions that he quit PDM for Swapo. He said he was expelled from the DTA and was therefore not a member of any party until Sunday when he officially joined Swapo. The DTA under the leadership of Venaani was recently rebranded to PDM and adopted a new vision and modus operandi. With this rebranding, Kaura claims, the official opposition has lost its flavour. “They adopted a new name and new constitution and everything else and got rid of the name DTA for whatever reason. I was a member of DTA. I am not a chameleon to change colours like that. I went to the party with a manifesto that I had studied.” But Kaura remained elusive as to whether or not his political move is linked to a desire to occupy the now vacant governor’s position at the Kunene Regional Council. “That is one thing I am not going to comment on. I am not going to speculate,” Kaura said, maintaining he will cross that bridge when he gets there. Responding to suggestions from various spheres of society that he should have opted to retire instead of joining Swapo, Kaura maintained that age should not be a limiting factor in politics. “Why is President Hage Geingob who is the same age as me still the president of Namibia? Who decides for me that I should retire? Retire for what? Whose space am I occupying?’’ he questioned. Kaura is expected to get his Swapo membership card today at 11h00 at the party headquarters in Windhoek 2017-11-14Staff Report 2
