ALLOW me space in your newspaper to respond to a highly provocative newspaper editorial piece by columnist Alexctus Kaure in The Namibian of the 12th of August, 2014.
The SWAPO Party Youth League (SPYL) not only as the main revolutionary transmitting belt of the SWAPO Party ideology, policies and political program but also as a legitimate bona fide structure recognised within the SWAPO party constitution as part of its broader collective cannot leave such highly invective aspersions on the person of Comrade Hage Geingob in his capacity as vice-president of our revolutionary liberation movement and potentially the president-elect of Namibia come the 2014 presidential elections.
I find it imperative as Deputy Secretary of the SPYL to on its behalf respond to Kaure’s partisan polemic for two reasons, the first of which is the aspersion cast by Kaure and peddled in the last few months as the main editorial line in one of the newspapers that Comrade Dr Geingob is a “power hungry dictator” with “kleptomaniacs” in his inner circle , this warrants careful analysis as this line of thinking must be traced to its roots and confronted without fear of prejudice. Apart from projecting Geingob in a bad light, the elements above as well as one or two other publications (editors) with clear and visible long-term political objectives in my view have also consistently sought to create a rift within the party leadership, by often projecting the positions, politics and person of Geingob as diametrically opposed to that of the party and his comrades. I need not remind the public of the editorial line of the same forces peddled in 2012, that Geingob was unelectable and would never win an elective contest within SWAPO, how wrong they were! Why?
On whose behalf? And for what purpose and interest are these images being continuously conjured up about a man who has been one of our nation’s greatest sons?
These are questions that need more analysis and revelation in good time.
The rise of Geingob to the vice-presidency of SWAPO and by extension its presidential candidate for the 2014 presidential elections was no fluke or accident of history, it was a clear resounding and democratic expression of the will of the SWAPO Party.
Again his victory come November, 2014 will be an expression of the overwhelming majority of Namibians, who will, willingly, consciously and knowingly in large majorities elect him as the third democratically elected President of the Republic of Namibia.
No doubt he will preside over a government following in the tradition of Comrades Sam Nujoma and Hifikepunye Pohamba, in which no journalist whether in alliance with opposition forces or not, has ever been arrested, harassed or detained by the state for expressing an opinion no matter how outlandish or alarmist such views may have been.
This is the democratic character of our SWAPO party movement and this is the proud tradition from which Cde Geingob comes from and will be able to lead out of.
The fact that the thread in the speech by Honorable Heikko Lucks in the National Assembly on the 12th of August and the piece editorial by Kaure on the same day were in sync, in texture, content and ambition, do not surprise us at all. It only goes to show the extent and the lack of complexity of this unholy alliance. Their tone on Facebook, editorials and other platforms rings the same tune.
We cannot be blamed for coming to the conclusion the editorial line of some these forces in the media and the vegetative Namibian opposition movement as a whole, run incestuously parallel. Can we further be blamed for noticing of late that one daily newspaper seems to have cross-planted the editorial thinking of one magazine into its own? Consider the latter’s recent attempt to drive a wedge between Geingob and his comrades in the Cabinet through its recently published narrow and shallow attempt at a Cabinet Scorecard and Kudos to Comrades Richard Kamwi and David Namwandi for throwing water on such rubbish.
The analysis of the 12th of August, 2014 runs the same shallow line, trying in vain to isolate Geingob from the broader SWAPO collective, perhaps trying to give credence to the defeated notion of a “Cold War” in our mighty SWAPO Party. The SWAPO Party machinery is set and ready to go, in ensuring a comprehensive and resolute elective majority so as to ensure that we lead the Namibian people for another five-year mandate under the leadership of the SWAPO Party collective, led by Geingob. The SPYL, SWAPO Party and its affiliates, the entire rank and file structure and membership stand firmly behind Geingob as our presidential candidate and no attempt to drive a wedge between Geingob and the party shall succeed, your attempts Honourble Lucks et al, at doing so, shall come to nothing.
Secondly the Constitutional Amendment Bill as tabled in the National Assembly by the erudite Comrade Albert Kawana does not only represent the views of one individual, but those of the party as a collective, and any attempt by the likes of Kaure or Honorable Lucks in collusion with each or other or not, does not change that revolutionary stance.
The fact that those in opposition to the amendments have yet to muster their combined intellectual ability to challenge the content of the bill is indication of the fact that in reality they find nothing indignant, inhumane, unconstitutional, or prejudicial in the amendments.
The farfetched, knee-jerk reactions and scare tactics which the Namibian populace has been bombarded with will come to nothing, Namibians trust their government and one newspaper and Mr Lucks et al, are no fools, for example Kaure mentions in his reactionary and vitriolic editorial piece, that the power of the National Council has been eroded in the Bill, in terms of text within the Amendment Bill.
This conclusion by Kaure is pure daydreaming, in fact the text clarifies the National Council can make changes by making correction in the text of a budget bill, whereas in the past this power was not spelled out.
About the moribund CSO’s movement we will not even speak of, within CSO community itself we have many who themselves claim as members of the community they were not consulted before the NANGOF Trust itself decided to brandish its opposition to the bill as is expected by its funders in Brussels and Washington, why the dual morality NANGOF?.
The SPYL has long advocated for a strong transformative state that is efficient and effective and able to bring to life the collective aspirations of the people of Namibia. Our objective as the progressive left flank of the SWAPO Party is to defend and see through the gains of Youth Empowerment, Genuine Economic Empowerment, Rural and Informal Settlement Development. We believe that a strong Presidency and note not a strong preident embodied as an individual but strong presidency as embodied in the institution that the bill creates, will result in strengthening the developmental nature of the state unleashing its transformational impact.
No true member of the SPYL, the SWAPO Party or its affiliate wings shall hold any other position to be true. As SPYL we stand behind the collective and not individual interest, ours is to defend, preserve and advance gains of the revolution, in alliance with other structures within the SWAPO Party for as long as those gains and the nationalist character of the party remain at the heart of the party’s advances.
We have no doubt that in the next five years, under the SWAPO Party Government led by Comrade Geingob, the full competitive and economic potential of Namibia will be unleashed and the nationalist character of SWAPO will remain uncompromised. Furthermore, we have no doubt that once re-elected, the SWAPO Party Government will enter into a new contract with the Namibian people that will result in a greater distribution of wealth and the rolling back of the negative impact of historic inequality. A new frontier is emerging on the horizon and Namibians will continue to trust SWAPO to lead them to full development, equality and prosperity.
The SPYL urges the youth of Namibia to rest assured in the fact that the Constitutional Amendment Bill encompasses a broad range of changes that will strengthen the independence of the Judiciary as well as that of the Legislature, this is not cheap political posturing it’s a fact, furthermore, it will enhance the stature the Anti-Corruption Commission and make the Office of the President a more efficient instrument in leading the State.
The Presidency in our view is consumed with many responsibilities which include international peace, security and development, furthermore the Presidency requires the capacity for domestic policy leadership and being visible and accessible to the general public, it is our view that strengthening the Presidency will strengthen our ability to meet all these obligations and others, no wonder therefore that the opposition, and their alliance cohorts do not wish the Bill to see the light of day.
Victoria a Certa
Veikko Nekundi
Deputy Secretary
SWAPO Party Youth League (SPYL)