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Home / RP withdraws Geingob support … Swapo unfazed by 11th hour decision
RP withdraws Geingob support … Swapo unfazed by 11th hour decision
2014-10-29Staff Report 2 WINDHOEK – In an unprecedented move, the Republican Party (RP) yesterday announced the withdrawal of its support for Swapo presidential candidate Dr Hage Geingob, partly because the party wants to field its own candidate. It was previously announced that the RP will only participate in the National Assembly election next month, but party president Henk Mudge yesterday announced he would now take on Geingob and other presidential candidates. Justifying the RP’s eleventh hour decision to withdraw support for Geingob, Mudge yesterday said there are allegations that there are forces within Swapo who will dictate to Geingob how to run the country, should he emerge victorious in next month’s contest. Mudge, who earlier this year announced his party would support Geingob in next month’s presidential election, surprised all and sundry when he said the party will officially no longer back the Swapo candidate. “It is unfortunately so that a perception currently exists that Dr Geingob will not necessarily be able to achieve that [agenda] apparently because there are elements in Swapo who are adamant to dictate to him,” Mudge said. “This is not what I am saying, it is what I am being told and I cannot take the chance to accept the leadership of somebody who will not be allowed to do what he/she knows is the best thing to do.” Mudge said his supporters have urged him to stand as RP candidate in next month’s presidential election. “My supporters want me to stand and I will do just that. Making this decision was not easy but we should remember that politics is not fixed because things often change and leaders must be prepared to change for the better,” explained Mudge. Mudge said he has a genuine desire to make a contribution to eradicate poverty and corruption and to put programmes in place whereby more employment can be created especially to ensure that the youth can contribute to make Namibia a better place for all, adding that “this is exactly what I will do when elected president”. Swapo Secretary General Nangolo Mbumba accused Mudge of being a political grasshopper and warned him to brace for a thorough political hiding. “Hage was in politics even before Mudge went to secondary school and no one will dictate anything to him,” the Swapo chief administrator said. “Let him [Mudge] stand so that we can smash him properly in a political manner, at least when we win he cannot then claim that we won because of his support. Mudge is a political grasshopper, he must go and hop further,” Mbumba said. “Swapo does not need RP’s support to win elections. By the way he is a wavering politician who got married to Hidipo [Hamutenya] and divorced, then he wanted to be on the Hage team and now this. No non-member of Swapo can ever dictate our policies, leaders and more especially our presidential candidate,” said Mbumba. SPYL leaders not surprised Having strongly rejected Mudge’s support for Geingob earlier this year, the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) welcomed the RP’s latest decision. “Swapo stands for solidarity with the downtrodden, freedom for the oppressed and social justice for the disadvantaged,” SPYL spokesperson Job Amupanda said. “RP on the other hand stands contrary to this. That is how we knew that such support is incompatible with their ideology of yesterday and we have not seen them repenting from that.” Amupanda laughed off Mudge’s suggestion that Geingob will not be his own man once elected to power. “This withdrawal comes as no surprise because Mudge has been zigzagging politically over the past years. He is saying these things because he wants to remain relevant by using the name of our candidate,” said Amupanda. 2014-10-29Staff Report 2
