WINDHOEK – The only female presidential candidate and Nudo leader, Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, said it was time to break the two-thirds majority enjoyed by the ruling party, Swapo.
Muinjangue addressed a relatively well-attended rally at the UN Plaza in Katutura on Saturday where she called on the party faithful to “vote wisely this time around”. Namibians head to the polls this Wednesday to elect a president and members of the National Assembly.
“The final hour is now here where you must decide and choose to continue supporting a corrupt Swapo government or to remove the current government with a clean Nudo government that will have zero tolerance on corruption,” Muinjangue said. SADC election observers also attended the Nudo rally.
“The hour of reckoning has arrived when you must decide whether to continue supporting a Swapo government that continues to impoverish its own people, a government that has relegated its own people to second class and continues to dump them in informal settlements without basic amenities,” she added.
“We need your votes to become a formidable party in parliament, we need your votes to address the many social and economic problems confronting our people both in government and parliament.”
Promises
Turning to her party’s 13-page election manifesto, Muinjangue pledged the restitution of ancestral land rights of Namibians who lost land because of colonial dispossession and genocide.
She said her party would abolish foreign land ownership, with all land belonging to the state to be for equal redistribution.
She added that no seller would be allowed to sell his or her farmland in the market above the productive value of his or her land.
Land prices, according to the party, would be capped and controlled at agricultural productive value only, while fair and transparent processes and institutions will be established to verify and determine ancestral land claims. The party said it would look at redistribution of wealth and social economic equity by creating a welfare state to address health, education and unemployment.
The party also promised, if elected into power, to build a state dairy farm in every region, which will supply dairy products to all state institutions. It also promised to make sure women are appointed in executive positions on a 50/50 basis.
Nudo has two members in the National Assembly and one in the National Council. The party has, however, set its sights on winning at least 10 seats this time around.