It's all systems go

As the Ondangwa Urban constituency by-election date draws closer, the five candidates contesting for the councillor's position, are rounding off their campaigns.

Candidates have been busy mobilising and lobbying for support from the people of their constituency to vote for them come Saturday, 15 June.

Swapo, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), the All People's Party (APP), and the Congress of Democrats (CoD) have registered candidates, while a youthful independent candidate is also taking part to fill a position that left vacant by councillor Elia Irimari who was appointed as the new Oshana regional governor by President Hage Geingob.



APP

The APP has thrown their weight behind 30-year-old Asser Vincent. Vincent is a street vendor from Ondangwa who says that he understands the struggle of the ordinary Ondangwa people from his personal background.

He said that on a daily basis, the town council officials remove street vendors from the pavements of the town but says these are just ordinary citizens eking out a living.

“If I get elected as councillor I will focus on youth empowerment and the vendors. I will consider the establishment of a vendor committee for each informal settlement of Ondangwa that will dealing with their affairs and ensure that they can work to survive,” said Vincent.

“Looking at how our informal areas are, I will try bring basic municipal services, pre-education centres and loot out crime and corruption. For the whole constituency, I will focus on the establishment a constituency foundation.”

Vincent that his campaign was mainly a house-to-house campaign that targeted the informal area. He said that people have shown great interest in voting for him.



PDM

The PDM has trusted 38-year-old sportsman and teacher, Johannes Martin. Martin is not new to politics as he is currently a local authority councillor in the Ondangwa town council. PDM has been conducting door-to-door campaigns around town and on 25 June they held their star rally that saw party president McHenry Venaani addressing a large gathering of party supporters.

Martin promises to work on key issues facing Ondangwa once elected.

He said that he will work on the upgrading of informal settlement and will provide water, electricity and sanitation. He will promote fair compensation and welfare for those affected by the town's development, create a youth employment scheme, search for funding to develop areas for informal traders and assist households headed by children.



Independent candidate

The unemployed 27-year-old Angelina Immanuel is the only woman contesting the election.

She is supported by the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement. Immanuel has been hosting various social gatherings for her fellow youth as a way to gain support.

She has received a lot of support on social media and in this light, appears to be the preferred candidate.

Immanuel promises to transform Ondangwa into a better place by addressing 20 interventions.

These include youth and women empowerment, infrastructure development, economic emancipation projects and many others.



Swapo

The ruling party Swapo has held three rallies to mobilise the people of Ondangwa to vote for Leonard Negonga. Negonga, 59, is a former mayor for Ondangwa, holding that position for 10 years and is currently also a councillor on the town council.

The Swapo party promises that Nevonga will continue where the former councillor Irimali ended. The party said he will be guided by the party manifesto and policies such as Vision 2030, the Harambee Prosperity Plan and many others.



COD

The COD has entrusted Mandume Andreas Tuhafeni to contest he Ondangwa by-election. The party has said that is has no interest in engaging the Namibian media to promote their candidate.

Nangolo said the CoD will stop the destruction of homes by the town council and added they will push for the construction of decent and permanent house for low-income residents.

“There will be proper sanitation and water supply for every residential plot, recreational facilities, playgrounds and an all-inclusive sports complex. We will push for the establishment of satellite police stations round the constituency,” Nangolo said.

“We envisage to push for the building of vocational training centre. Our policy on urban/residential land shall is one person one plot. We have taken note of the allocation of 500 plots to a Chinese national by the council in Omashaka. The CoD councillor will call for a forensic audit on the allocation of land to Chinese, the multiple allocation of land by Swapo councillors to themselves and the squandering and theft of public resources.”

ILENI NANDJATO