Swapo pushed Dingara to drop million-dollar motion

Swapo backbencher Elifas Dingara was hauled before the party’s parliamentary caucus and told to withdraw his motion for every Namibian to receive N$1 million from the state, Namibian Sun can reveal.

In June, the former unionist rose in the National Assembly to table a motion calling for each citizen to receive N$1 million in order to remedy the socio-economic challenges facing the country.

The money is to come from mineral resources, which he said the country has in abundance.

In July, Dingara withdrew the motion, saying he wants time to do more research on the matter and to consult extensively.

Namibian Sun can now reveal that the motion was withdrawn after the Swapo parliamentary caucus recently summoned Dingara – with his motion as the only item on the agenda.

'A joke'

Those who attended the meeting informed this publication that Dingara was asked why he did not consult the party before tabling the motion, which has been described as ‘a joke’ by some Swapo insiders.

In response, Dingara is understood to have stated that he does not serve in any formal structures of the party and thus did not have a platform to first propagate his idea within party structures.

The matter was briefly debated in the caucus and, in the end, Dingara was advised to submit a revised motion to the office of party chief whip Hamunyera Hambyuka.

Although Hambyuka yesterday denied that the party had a hand in the motion’s withdrawal, Namibian Sun can confirm that a five-member committee was also established, comprising of Dingara, fellow backbencher Tobie Aupindi, deputy mines minister Kornelia Shilunga and two members of the National Council.

The committee is to study the motion further before it can return to parliament. Shilunga is understood to be among Swapo leaders who have no confidence in the motion.

“She was asking Dingara why he did not approach the ministry of mines to assess the situation of national resources before tabling the motion,” one of the attendees said.

Cash in hand

When approached for comment, Dingara was reluctant to discuss the content of the meeting – saying it’s an internal party matter for now.

Swapo members who are in support of the motion include chairman of the parliamentary committee on natural resources Tjekero Tweya and Bob Kandetu, a staunch supporter of Swapo’s presidential candidate for 2024, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

In today’s Namibian Sun, Kandetu writes: “We must contemplate a model that places cash in the hands of all citizens instead of the chosen economic crown holders only, who hold and abuse this economic power exclusively and effectively so, while others are denied the same right on the presumed premise that they shall abuse the money...”

He was responding to Germany-based academic Professor Joseph Diescho, who criticised the million-dollar motion.

“We need to re-inspect the premises upon which we based our planning for national economic development to date, and continuing to uphold non-existent economic fairness will not do the trick,” Kandetu wrote.