UPM drags PDM to court over parliament axeing

The United People's Movement (UPM) has launched a court battle to have the withdrawal of two of its members from the National Assembly set aside. The party is demanding that they be sworn in again.

UPM president Jan van Wyk and Frans Bertolini were withdrawn as members of the National Assembly on 6 March, and two Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) members - Loide Iipinge and Katrina Benz - were sworn in, consequently replacing the two men.

Van Wyk and Bertolini held the seats based on a memorandum of understanding UPM entered into with PDM in 2019. According to the document, the parties formed an alliance for the national elections, and agreed on a joint party list.

On Monday, Van Wyk submitted a statement to the court in which he claimed that PDM did not have the right to take such steps.

"UPM is a separate registered political party from PDM and therefore PDM cannot withdraw UPM members from the National Assembly in terms of the constitution," he said.

Yesterday, the urgent application was postponed until 27 March in the Windhoek High Court.

Funding

Van Wyk believes the application is urgent because UPM receives funding from PDM in terms of the agreement, which stipulates that amounts are allocated per seat.

"The party will not be able to meet its financial obligations. UPM received monthly financing of N$180 000."

He also pointed out that UPM is now no longer represented in the National Assembly.

"The presidential and national elections will be held in November 2024, which is about eight months from now. Should the case proceed normally, the new National Assembly members will already be sworn in by the time the case is concluded," he said.

Reason for withdrawal

Although PDM has yet to file court documents in response to the urgent application, Van Wyk claimed the reasons for the withdrawal appear to be UPM's alleged violation of the agreement by forming a new alliance with National Empowerment Fighting Corruption (NEFC).

He argued that the alleged breach cannot be grounds for their so-called "incompetence" as members of the National Assembly.

"Furthermore, it is clear from the terms of the memorandum of understanding that entering into a new alliance has not undermined the existing agreement in any way. UPM's alliance with the NEFC in no way affects the current operations and functioning of the existing memorandum of understanding, as claimed by the PDM," Van Wyk's statement read.

According to the deal, UPM apparently agreed to support PDM's presidential candidate and PDM now claims UPM failed to meet this requirement by openly endorsing independent presidential candidate Ally Angula.

Van Wyk said this relevant clause of the agreement only related to the 2019 elections, and not the 2024 elections.

Replacements

UPM is seeking a court order declaring Van Wyk and Bertolini's withdrawal unconstitutional, and setting it aside. It is also seeking an order allowing for the two men to be sworn in again, or alternatively to be replaced by two other UPM members.

According to Van Wyk's statement, the memorandum of understanding stipulated that any openings - occurring during the existence of the agreement - in the National Assembly must be filled by members of that specific party.

"In this case, the two openings in the National Assembly were vacated by UPM members. It therefore follows that they must be filled by UPM members, and not by PDM members," Van Wyk said.

UPM also wants a court order declaring that the 2019 memorandum of understanding between the two parties is still valid.

"PDM never terminated the alliance agreement or communicated such termination," Van Wyk argued.

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