Iuze Mukube
Five members of the Swapo Party have failed in their attempt to overturn the party’s decision to postpone its extraordinary congress to 19 April 2025.
This follows a High Court ruling last Friday dismissing their application.
The applicants are Reinhold Nghihepavali Shipwikineni, Petrus Ndeshipanda Shituula, Joshua Vaino Martins, Erich Chrismann Shivute, and Aina Kalimba Angula. The respondents cited were the Swapo Party and its President, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
The applicants sought an order declaring the party’s decision not to hold an extraordinary congress within three months of the presidential vacancy as invalid and unconstitutional.
They had further asked the court to compel the party’s central committee to convene the congress within 30 days and ensure it takes place.
The party opposed the application, arguing that the matter had become moot. It also filed a counter-application against Shipwikineni, seeking declaratory and interdictory relief.
In its counter-application, the party asked the court to declare a letter written and published by Shipwikineni on 22 May 2023—purporting to suspend the party president and assume the role of acting president—as false, unauthorised, and unlawful.
It further sought a declaration that Shipwikineni had no authority to suspend the Swapo president or assume that office unilaterally.
The party maintained that the letter breached its constitution and requested that Shipwikineni retract it.
The party presidency became vacant on 4 February 2024 following the death of former president Hage Geingob. Since then, the five applicants insisted that an extraordinary congress be convened to elect a new party president, ahead of the November 2024 elections.
However, the party’s central committee resolved to hold the congress on 19 April 2025—a decision the applicants argued was inconsistent with the party constitution.
They contended that delaying the congress undermined the integrity of the party’s governance structures and violated constitutional provisions.
According to the Swapo constitution, when a president is permanently unable to perform their duties, an extraordinary congress must be called by the central committee within three months of the vacancy to complete the unexpired term.
The applicants argued that the congress should have been convened before 4 May 2024. The respondents, however, argued that the constitutional requirement refers to the notice convening the congress being issued within three months, not that the congress itself must be held within that timeframe.
Delivering judgement, Windhoek High Court judge Dinah Usiku noted that the contested congress had already taken place and that Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah had since assumed the position of party president.
“It is apparent that when this matter was heard on 19 September 2025, the challenge launched on 13 June 2024 had long been overtaken by events, as the extraordinary congress had already been held and fulfilled its mandate,” she said.
Usiku further stated that nothing in the party constitution renders a congress invalid simply because it is held beyond the three-month period. She ruled that, the respondent’s argument that the matter had become moot had merit and should be upheld. The court also granted the party’s counter-application against Shipwikineni. He was ordered to retract the letter and issue an apology to the party within seven court days of the ruling.
Photo: Heather Erdmann