The Swapo Party has resolved to hold an extraordinary congress on 19 April 2025 to elect an individual to complete the remainder of late president Hage Geingob’s term.
This is despite a legal challenge brought by five party members who argue that the party disregarded its own constitution when it
failed to hold the congress within three
months of Geingob’s demise.
Swapo, however, is unfazed by the challenge.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, prominent legal brain and Swapo politburo member Sisa Namandje reiterated the party’s stance, saying Netumbo Nandi-
Ndaitwah remains the party’s presidential candidate. The conference was aimed at updating party members,
supporters and sympathisers on their preparations ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, slated for November.
On the day, Namandje was unambiguous, telling the congregants that Nandi-Ndaitwah’s candidacy is irreversible, and had nothing to do with the ongoing legal challenge.
“Everybody knew, and everybody was informed. Everybody accepted that since after November 2022, there will be presidential elections in November 2024. It was agreed that the person who was going to win [the] vice presidency, that person automatically was going to be the party’s presidential candidate,” he stressed.
He continued: “And as soon as the announcement was made, that person was Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. In terms of the rules, no decision needed to be made. She became the party’s presidential candidate.”
Namandje had a point to drive home.
“This did not require a decision, okay? It just required certain facts. And those facts were, was Dr Geingob entitled to run for the third time? No, because he couldn’t. The next person automatically then qualified,” he said. He also had a message to those who had dragged the party to court.
“During September 2023, there was a member who gave notice that he was going to challenge the election and the automatic qualification of Nandi-Ndaitwah, and that was while the late Geingob was alive,” he noted. He further said, “I want to just make it clear: the story of an extraordinary congress did not come only after the death of the late Geingob, but it is something that was called for by few before his death.”
He added: “That is a fact. It’s irreversible. And whether few people like it or not, it will never be reversed by anyone.”
Elders support
Last month, the Swapo Party Elders’ Council consolidated support behind Nandi-Ndaitwah as their preferred candidate for the upcoming elections.
The move signified another step in the party’s campaign, as members threw their weight behind their preferred candidate to contest the State presidency. In a statement issued last week, SPEC secretary Mukwaita Shanyengana had no doubt the Nandi-Ndaitwah he knows is the most suitable candidate to usher Namibia into a new era.
“She was one of the active youths, along with the likes of Thomas Kamati, who led the youths’ political activities,” he said, adding that Nandi-Ndaitwah, affectionately known as NNN in political circles, has distinguished herself as a dedicated and selfless cadre who carried out her assignments with commitment.
Shanyengana expressed confidence that the country’s economy will grow under Nandi-Ndaitwah’s leadership.
“Netumbo is a capable and competent leader who can take Namibia to the next level of socio-economic development. She is a torch-bearer for freedom, economic development and social progress,” he observed. Shanyengana added: “Netumbo is an honest, strong and committed leader by nature, a trustworthy mother who will ensure that food security, food production, food processing and natural resources in Namibia are used to improve the living standards of the people.”
The party stalwart also criticised other political parties, stating that they are motivated by the politics of the belly and survival. As election day draws closer with each day that passes, some members of the ruling party are growing increasingly anxious due to an ongoing court case in which five party members sued the party for allegedly violating its own constitution. The five, who are disgruntled with the decision to endorse the candidature of NNN ahead of the November elections, are Reinhold Shipwikineni, Petrus Shituula, Joshua Martins, Erich Shivute and Aina Angula. Through their lawyers Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys, they criticised the central committee’s decision not to hold an extraordinary congress within three months after president Geingob’s demise, “as required by the party’s constitution.”
In June, the party, through its lawyers Murorua Kurtz Kasper Inc., demanded that the plaintiffs prove they can each afford N$400 000 in case they lose the case and are ordered to bear the legal costs.
This, according to them, was prompted by past experiences with difficulties in recovering costs awarded against individual party members. “In fact, the first applicant [Shipwikineni] recently, in other proceedings pending against him in the High Court, went public, seeking financial assistance to fund the costs of litigation in those proceedings. In view of the aforesaid, our clients hereby demand security of costs in the amount of
N$400 000 from each of your clients,” Swapo’s lawyers wrote in a letter dated 25 June. The High Court, however, ruled on 4 July 2024 that the amount be reduced from N$2 million to N$225 000.
Swapo is expected to respond in court next week.
Pot
Known in the Swapo dictionary as the ‘pot’, where the party will identify 96 individuals to make up its parliamentary list, the electoral college will go ahead as planned, party spokesperson Hilma Nikanor announced at the same press conference. Young and old Swapo members are fighting tooth and nail to secure a spot.
The college is scheduled for 7-9 September. Additionally, Swapo will launch its election manifesto on 14 September.
Nicanor said the manifesto serves as a blueprint of the party’s policies and future aims to attain economic and social progress. The manifesto will also highlight the key party achievements and success stories attained in the last five years.
She thus appealed to the Namibian electorate to vote for Swapo and its candidate, citing its longstanding achievements over 34 years of governance.
“We are too many to be defeated. The victory of the Swapo Party and the presidential candidate is certain,” Nicanor boasted. -lnashuuta@gmail.com