DTA accused of name theft
The official opposition, now known as PDM, says Joseph Kauandenge never registered a party with a similar name.
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) president McHenry Venaani has laughed off claims by Nudo spokesperson Joseph Kauandenge that the former DTA stole their party's new name from Nudo.
In 2013, Kauandenge established the People's Democratic Movement (PDM), a name he claims the former DTA has stolen.
Kauandenge yesterday confirmed that he never registered his party, but said he did not want Venaani to confuse his potential followers.
He admitted that he had buried the PDM idea when he joined Nudo in 2014.
“We were left flabbergasted and in awe that in this day and age, the DTA could take our party name without our consent and rename their party PDM.
“We hold it as evidently true that we are the rightful custodian of the name PDM and we must categorically make it clear that we are not impressed by this daylight robbery of our name by the DTA leadership,” he said.
Kauandenge also threatened to sue the new PDM party and to use every legal means possible to keep the official opposition from using PDM as its new acronym.
“This action from the DTA can be best described as intellectual property theft of the highest order and we will not sit idle and watch this being done and carried out under our very own nose,” he said.
Venaani yesterday told Namibian Sun that Kauandenge never registered PDM as a party, nor any other political party for that matter.
“We do not take him seriously at all. He just does not have the kind of following that would allow him to register a political party,” said Venaani.
Kauandenge, who is now the presidential spokesperson of Nudo, was a youth leader of the former DTA.
He then established his own political party, Namibia Movement for Independent Candidates (NMIC), in 1997. It did not last long.
He then returned to the DTA before joining the late OvaHerero Chief Kuaima Riruako when Nudo broke away from DTA in 2003.
Kauandenge also had a short stint at the Republican Party (RP) which he joined in 2005 and served as advisor to the party's then leader Henk Mudge.
He then left the RP for the Namibia Democratic Movement for Change (NDMC) party in 2009 where he was appointed as secretary-general. He left NDMC in 2010.
JEMIMA BEUKES
In 2013, Kauandenge established the People's Democratic Movement (PDM), a name he claims the former DTA has stolen.
Kauandenge yesterday confirmed that he never registered his party, but said he did not want Venaani to confuse his potential followers.
He admitted that he had buried the PDM idea when he joined Nudo in 2014.
“We were left flabbergasted and in awe that in this day and age, the DTA could take our party name without our consent and rename their party PDM.
“We hold it as evidently true that we are the rightful custodian of the name PDM and we must categorically make it clear that we are not impressed by this daylight robbery of our name by the DTA leadership,” he said.
Kauandenge also threatened to sue the new PDM party and to use every legal means possible to keep the official opposition from using PDM as its new acronym.
“This action from the DTA can be best described as intellectual property theft of the highest order and we will not sit idle and watch this being done and carried out under our very own nose,” he said.
Venaani yesterday told Namibian Sun that Kauandenge never registered PDM as a party, nor any other political party for that matter.
“We do not take him seriously at all. He just does not have the kind of following that would allow him to register a political party,” said Venaani.
Kauandenge, who is now the presidential spokesperson of Nudo, was a youth leader of the former DTA.
He then established his own political party, Namibia Movement for Independent Candidates (NMIC), in 1997. It did not last long.
He then returned to the DTA before joining the late OvaHerero Chief Kuaima Riruako when Nudo broke away from DTA in 2003.
Kauandenge also had a short stint at the Republican Party (RP) which he joined in 2005 and served as advisor to the party's then leader Henk Mudge.
He then left the RP for the Namibia Democratic Movement for Change (NDMC) party in 2009 where he was appointed as secretary-general. He left NDMC in 2010.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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