2016-11-18Staff Report 2 Ondangwa Swanu secretary general Tangeni Iyambo has reassured the minority party’s supporters that its mobilisation for the 2019 elections is in full swing in the northern regions. The party failed to capitalise on the highly populated northern regions in the last election and as a consequence endured severe and backbreaking defeats. Speaking to New Era on Thursday, Iyambo said Swanu has an ongoing mobilisation campaign in place to gain support in what is known as the ruling Swapo party’s northern stronghold. He said Swanu has already established itself in the northern regions, but it needs to remain visible to its supporters and sympathisers in the northern regions. “We have branches in the north and our representatives are going around to lobby for support,” said Iyambo, adding that political mobilisation in the north is rather challenging, because people have traditionally voted for Swapo. The Swanu secretary general said his party has with keen interest studied and observed how people perceive politics and political parties in the targeted regions. “We feel that with more information being shared and people being more enlightened we can hopefully garner enough votes in the future years,” said Iyambo. Just recently, the official opposition party DTA said its plans to penetrate the northern regions are still ongoing with their new northern headquarters expected to open any time. The aim is to garner enough votes in the northern regions, to counterbalance the influence of the ruling Swapo party in the north. Speaking at an elective meeting in Oshakati recently, DTA president McHenry Venaani said the move to the north would enable the party to stay in touch with the northern people at grassroots level. He said gaining more support and more seats in parliament would not fall from heaven, but needs collective effort to convince more voters to join the party. Although the elections are still two years away, opposition parties see it necessary to prepare now and to remain visible at all times. 2016-11-18Staff Report 2
