Outgoing leader of the official opposition in parliament and Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) president McHenry Venaani said those writing his party off are in for a rude awakening.
“It has become a trend in our country that every 10 years, there is a new official opposition (in Parliament),” Venaani said, referencing the years when DTA (the forerunner of the PDM), Congress of Democrats (CoD) and Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) held the status. Both CoD and RDP feature nowhere close to the incoming parliament. Venaani holds the record as the longest-serving leader of the official opposition, a title he will relinquish next week.
Tribalism
Despite the frequent shifts in the official opposition over the years, Venaani said PDM lost popularity in the recent elections due to tribalism.
“This was the most tribal election I have ever seen. Not even the 1989 elections were this tribal,” he charged.
He added: “If you look at my numbers, even in Herero areas, I was defeating Netumbo (the president-elect) hands down in my stronghold, something that would not have been the norm.
But people just voted along tribal lines,” Venaani said.
He recalled delivering a speech at the memorial service of late president Hage Geingob, and allegedly later hearing people say: “Venaani would make a good president, but the problem is that he is Herero.”
“It’s a reality we have in this country,” he lamented. He also suggested that another factor contributing to his party’s decline is the recurring trend of seeking “new change.”
“Sometimes people get used to something, and believe that new is better. But sometimes, the new doesn’t turn out better. It was the same when people wanted CoD to become the official opposition; they thought it would be better than DTA. Then, people thought RDP would be better than DTA, but it didn’t last,” he said.
Similarly, he noted that people now perceive the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) as a better alternative to the PDM.
Doubt
However, he expressed doubts about whether the IPC would maintain its position. “We will see whether they have the political maturity and leadership calibre we have demonstrated over the years. We will talk again in 10 years to see whether this official opposition will stay the course or if they, too, will have just 10 years in that office,” Venaani said, suggesting that members of the public will soon miss the PDM.
Voters’ decision
When all is said and done, Namibians must also respect the voters, as they are the ultimate jury.
He acknowledged that while voters may believe the PDM has not performed well, he firmly believes the party has a strong record, having submitted more motions than the number of Bills brought by the government.
“That means we have worked harder than the government,” he declared.
PDM, he said, will always advocate for critical national issues.
“We were once just two members in parliament, but we gained more popularity,” he continued.
Relevance
When asked how the party plans to maintain relevance amid the emergence of a new official opposition, he stated that one thing the new party will never take from the PDM is “experience and political maturity”.
“We are a more mature party, even in the way we conduct ourselves politically. So, we will remain relevant,” he noted, before citing the late Member of Parliament Moses Katjiuongua, who led a one-man party in the Assembly, yet was regarded as one of the country’s best parliamentarians.
“Relevance isn’t determined by numbers, but by continuous struggle. We are not relenting just because we now have five seats in parliament instead of 16,” he stressed.
Venaani, nonetheless, vowed to rebuild the party’s support base.
Over the next five years, the party will advocate issues related to agriculture, land, value-addition and inequality.
Financial health
The PDM’s loss of seats in the National Assembly has not only reduced its representation, but also created a significant financial strain on the party. In essence, the more seats a party holds in the National Assembly and National Council, the more funding it receives from the Treasury. As a result, the PDM will have to tighten their belts for the next term.
Over the past five years, the PDM has pocketed more than N$50 million through parliamentary funding. Venaani said the party is prepared for a downscale, but that does not mean “we don’t have money.”
This contradicts some party members’ claims that the party is broke.
“I haven’t received my salary for two months. At the moment, we have been working from home because the party can’t afford an office. How is the party going to govern a country if it can’t even manage itself?” a PDM member who spoke on condition of anonymity told New Era.
“People shouldn’t come to the party thinking it’s the same as when we had 16 seats. We need to scale down, and that is part of leadership – managing party resources efficiently. But it’s not as if we are in a position where we can’t meet our commitments,” Venaani said.
He added: “We have been paying people and covering our expenses. It’s difficult, but we are managing.”
Many members also claim that salaries have been paid from Venaani’s and party veteran Nico Smit’s personal pockets. “At the moment, the party owes about eight municipalities, and is struggling to pay instalments for its fleet,” another member alleged.
Venaani dismissed these claims as “utter nonsense.”
“Neither I nor Smit are owed by the party. We are not running the party on overdrafts, but from party resources. The last time I invested personal funds into the party was when I took over as president because, at that time, the party had no money. Right now, we are engaging banks to purchase property, which is a strategic decision to save, something we have done before. Those who are working from home must just stay calm,” he continued.
Addressing concerns about unpaid utility bills, he said these are recurring expenses, sometimes influenced by excessive resources’ usage.
“For example, in Kavango, the entire town comes at night to fetch water and by morning, the bill is N$200 000, when the monthly budget was only N$1 700. This results in debt, requiring us to restructure our payments,” he said. He also pointed out that even the government owes municipalities.