Ministers prepare for life after Geingob

Over the past few weeks, several ministers and deputy ministers who joined parliament as presidential appointees have been hurtling helter-skelter across the Swapo Party structures in a bid to break their way into the ruling party’s formal structures at various levels.

Following the 2019 elections, where Swapo landed 63 seats in the National Assembly, President Hage Geingob used his constitutional powers to appoint eight people. They are: Yvonne Dausab, Emma Kantema-Gaomas, Emma Theofelus, Natalia Goagoses, Veikko Nekundi, Dr Kalumbi Shangula, Iipumbu Shiimi and Peter Vilho, who has since been replaced by Patience Masua. He subsequently appointed most of them either as ministers or deputy ministers.

Mines minister Tom Alweendo and National Planning Commission director general Obeth Kandjoze, on the other hand, were hand-picked by Geingob in 2015.

After having shelved their professional careers to join full-time politics, some of the appointees now find themselves staring unemployment in the face.

Some will not be at the party’s congress, making them ineligible to contest at its electoral college where the party’s list of National Assembly candidates is drawn up through a rigorous voting process.

The electoral college usually takes place the year preceding the country’s general elections.

Those who fail to make it into party structures could find themselves in the political wilderness during the post-Geingob presidency era, especially if his successor does not appoint them.

But despite their high standing in government, many of the ministers appointed by the president are finding it hard to stamp their identity in Swapo politics, hence remaining at the mercy of being arbitrary picked by the party president.

Political jostlers

The move to join the Swapo Party structures is one seen by observers as an attempt to secure their political future once Geingob’s term as state president comes to an end in 2025.

Just last week days ago, Shiimi made his biggest political breakthrough when he was elected to serve as the party’s treasurer in the Oshana Region. This seemingly paved his way to congress.

Despite being part of Geingob’s 2015 appointee cohort, Alweendo has still not managed to weave his way into the party’s structures.

Not even his proximity to state power could bolster his standing in the party, and that could – in fact – be his Achilles heel.

He recently failed in his attempt to join party structures in Khomas. He wanted to contest for the treasurer position in the Swapo Party Elders Council, but was forced to withdraw at the last minute because he allegedly did not meet the requirements.

As for Theofelus, she managed to quietly sneak into the mix as a Khomas delegate at the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) congress held over the weekend at Ongwediva.

This after she was voted to serve as the Samora Machel district secretary for information and publicity for the youth wing.

SPYL sources also claim she unsuccessfully lobbied to be nominated to join the race to power her way into the youth wing’s central committee.

After trying for many years, Kandjoze finally got his seat at Swapo’s big table after managing to garner enough votes to serve on the party’s structures. A seasoned technocrat with limited political capital, this time around Kandjoze successfully tried his luck in Aminuis, where he was elected as treasurer for the district. He will represent Omaheke as a delegate at the congress in November.

Shiimi, Alweendo and Kandjoze have been seen as Geingob’s blue-eyed boys in recent times, accompanying him on most of his international trips as well as blowing the horn on the president’s green hydrogen agenda.

‘Time to chaila’

Shangula, roped in by Geingob to nurse the country’s limping health sector, last week told Namibian Sun: “I am least preoccupied with political positions.”

The party’s former think tank chairman continued: “I am a health professional and I will continue as I have done in the past. The discussion on this topic is closed.”

Sources close to Shangula said he is eager to retire from public office and active politics.

Meanwhile, Goagoses, a wealthy businesswoman, said: “I think it’s probably my time to chaila [go]... I have done my part, after more than 40 years of service”.

“I have no intention whatsoever of entering the party structures for a position in parliament. I am and will remain an ordinary Swapo member after my term ends in 2025. I have accomplished my mission as a professional educator and administrator of note,” the deputy minister of urban and rural development said.

She added: “I will certainly always be ready to serve my party when assigned any duty because of the special skills, wealth of experience, competence and ethics I possess as a patriotic Namibian. “I have been in service for [a] long [time]; perhaps it is time for the younger generation to take over.”

When contacted for comment, Kantema-Gaomas said she was busy and could thus not comment.

Problematic process

The increasing trend of high-ranking officials imposing themselves on the lower structures of the party is ‘extremely problematic’, political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah warned.

He said officials being nominated in areas in which they do not reside “robs the people of that locality from true representation”.

“That is the deficit with our party politics when it comes to nominating people. Because the ruling party pie is so small, the competition becomes tough. That is why you see national leaders reverting back to regions where they stand a chance to be nominated.

“The implication hereby is that it defeats the purpose and goal of representation,” he said during a telephonic interview yesterday.

He added: “The problem is that the appointees do not have constituencies. They then realise that the only way to get their ministerial positions back is by being in the party structures.”

The dynamics at local level are different, Kamwanyah said, adding that “because of their privileged positions, they even manipulate the internal nomination and election processes”.