Last kick of a dying horse

The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) has been rocked by mass resignations including that of one of its founders Jeremiah Nambinga. In fact, Nambinga not only resigned as RDP leader, but also dumped the former official opposition by quitting as member, citing ongoing divisions and infighting within the leadership. The party has largely been beset with serious problems shortly after the 2009 general elections. After becoming the official opposition, which included scooping eight National Assembly seats, the party experienced a gradual decline, with its former president Hidipo Hamutenya performing woefully in the 2014 polls. The RDP could only garner a little over 30 000 votes in the presidential elections, while 31 372 Namibians voted for the party in the National Assembly elections, representing a mere 3.5% of the total vote. This pathetic showing not only resulted in the party losing its official opposition status to the DTA, now operating as the Popular Democratic Movement, but the party also lost five seats in the process. The party now faces the major struggle of finding its political relevance since its thumping defeat in 2014 and the ensuing drama, which has seen many senior party leaders defecting back to the ruling party, Swapo. The Namibian political landscape is already dominated by a fragmented and disoriented opposition, with no ideology, and capacity to challenge Swapo’s two-thirds majority. Swapo, with its many weaknesses, will forever be comfortable, as long as there is no serious challenge from the opposition ranks. This makes our politics sterile and poorer, as far as holding power accountable is concerned. RDP is already facing the threat of damaging splits and it will be interesting to see how it regroups ahead of the polls next year. The infighting has already caused them huge damage and until such time that it comes up with alternatives and setting the agenda for the many issues facing Namibians, the party is destined to fail.