Female candidate enters SPYL race
One of the hopefuls for the Swapo Party Youth League deputy secretary position says the youth wing needs a serious transformation of leadership since the expulsion of the Swapo Four plunged it into confusion.
Martha Belinda Jacobs is expected to stand as candidate for the deputy secretary position at the SPYL elective congress later in the year. According to Jacobs, who is the party secretary of the Aranos District in the Hardap Region, there are a lot of problems that need to be addressed in the youth wing to motivate dispirited youth.
Jacobs told Namibian Sun that she would campaign for the empowerment of young women to fill leadership positions in the party's youth structures. “We need to make it vibrant again and to re-instil activism amongst fellow youth, at the moment there is a feeling that once you speak up you are seen as a threat. We need people who will put principle before profit - more progressive young people like Job Amupanda,” she said.
Amupanda, along with fellow youth leaders George Kambala and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma, were expelled from Swapo after starting the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, which had threatened to grab land just before the 2014 general elections.
Former SPYL secretary Elijah Ngurare was also given his marching orders for sympathising with the AR movement, but a court ruling subsequently ordered their reinstatement in Swapo.
Jacobs is not the only one who has declared intentions to run for one of the top positions at the SPYL congress. Earlier this month, SPYL executive committee member Sioni Iikela showed interest in the position, while there has been talk that acting secretary Veikko Nekundi might also stand for election. “I was a Swapo pioneer and I graduated through the Swapo structures to be where I am today. I still have to give it my final consideration and announce it officially but I am ready to serve the party,” Iikela told Namibian Sun.
SPYL spokesperson Neville Andre Itope has cautioned members of the youth league, especially prospective candidates, saying the party is yet to declare the succession debate open. “The issue of the congress and the candidate is not yet open to determine who should stand for election. A committee must first sit to discuss the nomination process. They must wait for the right time,” he said.
JEMIMA BEUKES
Martha Belinda Jacobs is expected to stand as candidate for the deputy secretary position at the SPYL elective congress later in the year. According to Jacobs, who is the party secretary of the Aranos District in the Hardap Region, there are a lot of problems that need to be addressed in the youth wing to motivate dispirited youth.
Jacobs told Namibian Sun that she would campaign for the empowerment of young women to fill leadership positions in the party's youth structures. “We need to make it vibrant again and to re-instil activism amongst fellow youth, at the moment there is a feeling that once you speak up you are seen as a threat. We need people who will put principle before profit - more progressive young people like Job Amupanda,” she said.
Amupanda, along with fellow youth leaders George Kambala and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma, were expelled from Swapo after starting the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, which had threatened to grab land just before the 2014 general elections.
Former SPYL secretary Elijah Ngurare was also given his marching orders for sympathising with the AR movement, but a court ruling subsequently ordered their reinstatement in Swapo.
Jacobs is not the only one who has declared intentions to run for one of the top positions at the SPYL congress. Earlier this month, SPYL executive committee member Sioni Iikela showed interest in the position, while there has been talk that acting secretary Veikko Nekundi might also stand for election. “I was a Swapo pioneer and I graduated through the Swapo structures to be where I am today. I still have to give it my final consideration and announce it officially but I am ready to serve the party,” Iikela told Namibian Sun.
SPYL spokesperson Neville Andre Itope has cautioned members of the youth league, especially prospective candidates, saying the party is yet to declare the succession debate open. “The issue of the congress and the candidate is not yet open to determine who should stand for election. A committee must first sit to discuss the nomination process. They must wait for the right time,” he said.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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