Netumbo on Fishrot: We cannot defend wrong

Swapo vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah says the ruling party will not defend corruption and the fact that two former ministers are in jail awaiting trial over the Fishrot scandal proves the former liberation movement’s clear stance on the matter.Swapo is implicated in Fishrot, with a trail of banking transactions showing who in the party was paid from the fishing-bribery loot, which landed former fisheries minister Bernartdt Esau and his justice counterpart, Sacky Shanghala, in jail, pending the start of their trial.Overall, 10 people have been arrested in connection with Fishrot, during which, according to prosecutors, over N$300 million allegedly exchanged hands.Job lossesMany Namibians lost their jobs in the process, after Esau stripped their employers of fishing quotas and handed the quotes to the National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor), the state-owned company that was allegedly used as a vehicle for bribes in exchange for such quotas.At a Swapo star rally in Swakopmund on Saturday, ahead of a by-election this week, Nandi-Ndaitwah said: "Some of the people who have lost their jobs are from one of the companies who have run away after this scandal in the fishing industry," in an apparent swipe at Samherji, the Icelandic company at the centre of the bribery allegations."It is a scandal because since independence, we have been putting in place all the mechanisms, policies to safeguard our fishing industry, and we started very well, and it contributed significantly to the economic growth of our country," she added."But because there are those who are jealous and against us, they ended up and made use of some of our citizens in order to undermine this fishing industry. But we have our laws and procedures. That is why we have two cabinet ministers in prison. We cannot defend wrong. Let the law take its course."Come back homeSwapo lost swathes of local authorities and constituencies after the Fishrot scandal surfaced in late 2019. The party lost the Swakopmund constituency to the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), which expelled its councillor, Ciske Smith-Howard, this year, resulting in the looming by-election.Nandi-Ndaitwah on Saturday pleaded with Swakopmund residents to return to the ruling party’s fold."You allow yourselves to be in the hands of those that have no base, when you are leaving a strong foundation that has grown over the years. But opportunity has brought itself, and now Swakopmund must come back to its rightful owners," she said.Nandi-Ndaitwah, who doubles as Namibia’s international affairs minister, said democracy is not measured by diversity of political parties. She argued that America, the world’s oldest democracy, has only two political parties, and urged Namibians not to be divided by international standards."We should not allow ourselves to be divided when they [the West] are not dividing themselves. You hear groups coming from Europe, they are supporting this and that - it is more democratic. Why are they not supporting democracy in their own countries?" she asked.jemima@namibiansun.comSWAPO IS WHERE HOME IS: Swapo vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. PHOTO: JEMIMA BEUKES

Netumbo on Fishrot: We cannot defend wrong

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Titus Ndayapale Kambadwa 3 Year Ago 09 August 2022

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Netumbo on Fishrot: We cannot defend wrong

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Titus Ndayapale Kambadwa 3 Year Ago 09 August 2022

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