Namibian Sun

In a move that is likely to send shockwaves through the Namibian political landscape and interrupt President Hage Geingob’s dreams on his plush N$120 000 imported Chinese bed, former Swapo youth leaders Dr Elijah Ngurare and Job Amupanda have exclusively confirmed to Namibian Sun their intention to form the Economic Liberation fighters (ELF).
“We want to restore the dignity of our people and reduce the inequality between rich and the poor. We want land! We refuse to sit back any longer and watch as our future is sold to the highest international bidder for a bowl of Chinese food or curry,” Amupanda said yesterday during an in-depth interview.
He added that the ELF would fight for social justice and renew the battle for land across Namibia, while exposing the corrupt deals and continued emptying of the treasury by the elite that remain firmly with the noses in the feeding trough.
Amupanda, who along with former Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) secretary Ngurare, and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and George Kambala were unceremoniously booted out of Swapo during a purge led by then party vice-president Hage Geingob in 2015, and who were then reinstated by the High Court, said they had drawn strength from Julius Malema and his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in South Africa.
“There comes a time as a young person that you have to take a stand to carve your own path as a fighter for social justice – a modern day freedom fighter. Malema did it in South Africa when the ANC expelled him as its youth leader and a member and we are ready to take the fight to those in Swapo that have positioned themselves at the centre of power, at the expense of the party’s principles and foundation of economic liberation for our people, ” Amupanda said.
In the South African context, the EFF has been setting the political agenda and recently managed to secure the support of the ruling ANC in parliament, in order to pass a motion that will eventually result in the expropriation of land without compensation.
Malema also recently boasted that his party, and not the ANC was leading South Africa.
Ngurare did not pull his punches, saying the Affirmative Repositioning movement, which he, Amupanda and others had successfully led to the benefit of highlighting youth land aspirations, had shown the way and that the ELF would now take the battle for social justice into the corridors of power in the National Assembly.
“The new party’s political programme includes land expropriation from absentee landlords, firstly, but obviously we also want urban land for our people. We are also saying no to loans that we and the generations that follow will have to pay back long after the current Swapo leaders will be turning in their graves, when we show them how to economically liberate our people.
“It is a travesty and a shame that we can talk about poor people in a nation that is rich with resources and that still today allows a predatory elite to live like kings and queens while the poor eat dirt,” Ngurare said.
Geingob, who according to his political enemies is currently on a “begging mission” in China, could not be reached for comment, while Swapo secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa laughed off the ELF, saying it would end up in the dustbin of history, like all other political parties that came from Swapo and found out how cold it is outside the ruling party.
“I have no further comment. Let them do what they think is necessary,” Shaningwa said.
Political analysts also remarked that forming a new political party in the current political climate is not wise.
“The reality is that the opposition is saturated and it will be up to the ELF to distinguish themselves, as Malema and his EFF have done in South Africa. They should also focus on a broader range of policy issues in order to attract support and on key issues of national interest, in an attempt to secure votes from across the country,” said Institute for Public Policy Research executive director, Graham Hopwood.