A week after Swapo members gave the party an ultimatum to hold an extraordinary congress on or before 4 May, the trio is now proceeding with the matter to the High Court after their request was not entertained.
Speaking to New Era, party loyalist Reinhold Shipwikineni said they will instruct their lawyer to file an application for the matter to be heard in court.
He believes the party’s constitution has been violated.
“The party had time to hold an extraordinary congress as prescribed by the party constitution, but the leadership failed to comply with the constitutional requirement to convene an extraordinary congress within three months from the date the presidential position became vacant,” Shipwikineni said.
The Swapo presidency became vacant following the death of president Hage Geingob on 4 February.
Shipwikineni, who has been advocating for the party to hold an extraordinary congress, especially on his social media platforms, said his intention to take the leadership to court is driven by his pursuit of justice.
“The division will not be caused by taking the party leadership to a high court. The division is caused by the party leadership, which has violated the Swapo constitution. We are not causing division, but exercising our constitutional, democratic rights established in the Swapo Party constitution,” he continued.
Shipwikineni stated, “Every legislated political party is legally obliged to follow its own constitution, and nobody is above the law”.
Legal notice
In a letter dated 26 April 2024, sent to Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa, Shipwikineni and Peter Shituula and Joshua-Vaino Martins, through their lawyers, critiqued the central committee’s decision not to hold an extraordinary congress within three months after Geingob’s demise, as required by the party’s constitution.
They argue the party has been misguided by the reasoning it is constitutionally bound to call for and not hold an extraordinary congress within three months after the passing of the president.
At the crux of the matter is the semantics of “call” and “hold”.
Two months ago, lawyer and Swapo politburo member Sisa Namandje clarified the interpretation.
It is Namandje’s legal view that those who thought the Swapo constitution obliged it to hold an extraordinary congress within three months after a vacancy arises in the party presidency are misplaced.
According to Namandje, the party constitution rather requires that it “calls” an extraordinary congress in three months and not “hold” one at that time.
Aboveboard
In response to the trio’s demands, the party, through its lawyers, MKK Inc. Attorney, denied allegations of illegality and maintained the decisions made at the central committee meeting in March are irreversible, extant and in accordance with the law, rejecting the trio’s demand, saying “it’s ill-conceived”.
The party warned that any litigation that may be instituted by the members will be vigorously fought and defended.
Swapo, through its lawyers, further said Shipwikineni has been demanding an extraordinary congress and disputing the legitimacy of Swapo’s presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah for more than a year.
“In fact, he has been threatening litigation during the same period. He will no doubt be settled with a challenge of inordinate delay to institute the threatened litigation,” reads the letter.
The party maintained there is no merit in the allegations against Shipwikineni and sees his “threat” as a sinister and deliberate plot of distraction and to cause disharmony, given the ongoing political parties’ campaigns for the upcoming elections.
In October last year, law firm Sisa Namandje & Co. Inc. wrote to Shipwikineni’s previous legal practitioners, Wouter Rossouw Legal Practitioners, that in the event of Shipwikineni bringing any action against the party, Swapo will demand security in the amount of N$500 000.
This, according to the MKK Inc. attorney, has become necessary, given the fact that Shipwikineni was recently involved in litigation over defamatory statements he made.
In response to the MKK Inc. Attorneys, defence lawyer Richard Metcalfe for Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys said Swapo’s threat to “milk” Shipwikineni out of N$500 000 in legal costs is a “lamentable and desperate ploy to rob them [clients] of their constitutional right to seek justice for redress of their grievances in the high court.
In the defence of his clients, Metcalfe concluded that the party is “desperately seeking to milk money out of the working class of Namibia, who are members of the Swapo party, in order to complete the building of its N$700 million headquarters in Windhoek”.
He further said the clients have no problem and/or agenda with the nomination of Nandi-Ndaitwah as the Swapo Party presidential candidate.
“If the Swapo rules have to be changed to accommodate such nominations, this is a matter that could easily be attended to at the meeting to be held at the Swapo party extraordinary congress,” he said.
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