WINDHOEK – Following a politburo meeting where the suspension of three Affirmative Repositioning land activists was endorsed on Monday, the ruling party, Swapo, yesterday refused to divulge the charges the trio is facing.
Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) members Job Amupanda, Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and George Kambala were suspended last year over their land activities.
Swapo secretary-general Nangolo Mbumba yesterday at a press conference refused to divulge the charges, saying the matter is an internal one.
“The political bureau of the central committee of Swapo Party confirmed the decision of the top four leaders of the party to suspend comrades Job Amupanda, Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and George Kambala for their actions just before the Presidential and National Assembly elections,” Mbumba announced.
“In this regard, the political bureau directed the relevant organs of the party to speed up the process of finalising their case.”
Contacted for comment, Amupanda said he was not aware of the politburo’s decision.
When asked whether they will appeal the suspension, Amupanda responded: “How do we appeal if we do not even know why we were suspended in the first place?
“This is news to me because nothing has been communicated to us. But I am not surprised that the media got to know about this before we did; it has become a common practice of the party,” said Amupanda.
“I was in the lecture hall teaching the whole day because some of us are busy doing more important things than fight for positions, plus we have been on suspension already,” Amupanda said.
Nauyoma, on the other hand, said he too did not receive official correspondence from the party informing him of the confirmed suspension.
“These guys do not know what they are doing. Now, I can focus on working hard to provide for my family since I am suspended,” he said.
“I have no time to appeal the suspension because I will not beg to be in the party,” said Nauyoma.
The politburo is concerned that there is an impression being created that government has been reluctant to address the issues related to the availability and provision of housing and service residential plots.
“However, we know that the contrary is true. Programmes have been in place to address land redistribution in this country for many years. Government has bought millions of hectares of commercial land and resettled hundreds of families on those farming units,” Mbumba said.
He also stated that steps have been taken to bring about speedier delivery of serviced urban land and address other issues surrounding high prices for the rental of accommodation and related matters.