Swapo legal guru Albert Kawana has been instructed to scrutinise and verify congress delegates’ list after some names were mysteriously inserted or removed.
What is clear is not all names on the list are legitimate.
Only those vetted by Kawana and his team will ultimately be eligible to attend what is expected to be a watershed congress.
The move to deploy Kawana’s legal microscope was taken at a protracted central committee (CC) meeting on Monday, people familiar with the meeting confirmed.
“The main issue is the illegal delegates who were elected to the congress. Kawana was tasked by CC to rectify the matter and establish whether the affected delegates are indeed district executive members (DEC) or regional executive members (REC),” a CC source said.
At the height of the Swapo internal campaigns last month, information minister Peya Mushelenga complained that the list of congress delegates had been altered, with some names mysteriously vanishing into thin air. “It has been complained that some names of some delegates have been removed from the delegates’ list without their knowledge or the knowledge of district coordinators, and replaced with the so-called ‘alternate delegates’,” Mushelenga, a 20-year CC member flagged at the time.
According to Swapo’s procedures, delegates to congress are either drawn from the DEC or REC.
“Some regions like Otjozondjupa, //Kharas and some districts in Kavango East and Oshikoto have already rectified their mistakes of placing none REC or DEC members on the list of delegates to the congress,” the source continued.
According to insiders, districts in Kavango East (Rundu Rural) where the legitimate branch mobiliser was allegedly swapped with a non-REC/DEC and Kabbe North district in Zambezi, have been placed under Kawana’s lenses.
Down south, the Hardap delegation has also been fingered as a cause of concern.
“But their case is different from the rest because their affected members were elected during their regional conference meeting, where some CC members felt they didn’t follow the party constitution,” another CC member, who also preferred anonymity, added.
The CC, it is said, agreed that no new cases will be entertained, as it dealt only with those who were already submitted to secretary general Sophia Shaningwa’s office.
“The secretary general is expected to hand over all the complaint letters to Kawana and his team of regional coordinators to rectify the mistakes as a matter of urgency,” the CC member said.
The wings likely to be affected by yesterday’s verifications were the party’s youth league and the women’s council. Efforts to get hold of Kawana were fruitless, as his cell phone went unanswered prior to going for print.
Numbers game
On Firday, Swapo’s leader President Hage Geingob will lead the 85-member CC for the last time before it is dissolved.
It is the party’s highest decision-making body between congresses.
New CC members will be elected at congress.
Additionally, a congress delegates’ list obtained by New Era shows 777 party loyalists will decide Swapo’s leadership fate for the next five years.
The delegates are drawn from all corners of the country, with each of the 121 constituencies represented by four people.
In Swapo’s diction, this is called a ‘district’. The 14 regions will each dispatch a contingent of 10 representatives to congress. Both numbers make up a region’s total.
Bodies affiliated to the ruling party as well as its wings will also be represented.
The Swapo Party Women’s Council will send 20 delegates, while the Swapo Elders Council will deploy 16 cadres.
Meanwhile, the young Turks – Swapo Party Youth League – will be represented by a 16-member delegation at the congress.
The National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) and newly- established Former Plan Combatants’ Association (FPCA) will also send 16 delegates each.
Delegates will convene in Windhoek this weekend to elect a new Swapo leadership for the next five years.
While Geingob will continue as party president uncontested, the party’s vice president will become Swapo’s candidate for the 2024 presidential elections.
The position is contested between Swapo vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and environment minister Pohamba Shifeta. The powerful portfolio of secretary general, incumbent Sophia Shaningwa, takes on the party’s Oshikoto coordinator Armas Amukwiyu.
For deputy secretary general, former Cabinet minister Uahekua Herunga, Kavango West Swapo coordinator David Hamutenya as well as Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele contest against each other.
Parliamentarian Lucia Witbooi, who was also vying for the deputy secretary general position, withdrew from the “crowded” race on Monday.
– emumbuu@nepc.com.na