Only a crisis would return Nahas to politics
Former prime minister Nahas Angula has denied rumours that he plans to stand for a constituency councillor's position.
STAFF REPORTER
WINDHOEK
Former prime minister and Swapo stalwart Nahas Angula has laughed off a circulating poster suggesting he would stand as an independent candidate for Onyaanya constituency, saying only a crisis in Swapo would return him to active politics.
Angula's last active involvement in politics was in 2017 when he challenged Hage Geingob and Jerry Ekandjo for party president – a battle he lost convincingly to Geingob.
In 2004 he tried winning the party candidacy for the presidential election and lost to Hifikepunye Pohamba.
A fierce critic of Geingob's leadership, Angula attributed his candidacy in 2017 to what he claimed was the degeneration of the party under the tutelage of the man who succeeded him as the country's prime minister in 2012.
A joke
Asked about the poster bearing his photo and name, which claims he will seek to become councillor of Onyaana where he hails from, Angula described it as “people entertaining themselves”.
“Whoever did it [the poster], it is laughable. I left Onyaanya in 1958 when I went to Oniipa Boys School. Very few people know me there,” he said, suggesting he would not appeal to many local voters.
Speaking from Onyaanya yesterday, Angula said: “I joined politics as a young man and now I have a bald head. For now, I can only go back to politics to put down fires or to rebuild my heritage which has been destroyed by Fishrot.”
Angula attributed his and his campaign slate Team Swapo's humiliating loss in 2017 to the Fishrot bribery scandal, which has landed former ministers Sacky Shanghala and Bernard Esau behind bars.
Records show the party's congress benefitted from the bribery scandal, with some of it having paid for logistics of the elective congregation.
Angula had previously stated that Fishrot money had “changed hands” to buy votes at the congress – a claim firmly denied by Geingob's winning camp.
WINDHOEK
Former prime minister and Swapo stalwart Nahas Angula has laughed off a circulating poster suggesting he would stand as an independent candidate for Onyaanya constituency, saying only a crisis in Swapo would return him to active politics.
Angula's last active involvement in politics was in 2017 when he challenged Hage Geingob and Jerry Ekandjo for party president – a battle he lost convincingly to Geingob.
In 2004 he tried winning the party candidacy for the presidential election and lost to Hifikepunye Pohamba.
A fierce critic of Geingob's leadership, Angula attributed his candidacy in 2017 to what he claimed was the degeneration of the party under the tutelage of the man who succeeded him as the country's prime minister in 2012.
A joke
Asked about the poster bearing his photo and name, which claims he will seek to become councillor of Onyaana where he hails from, Angula described it as “people entertaining themselves”.
“Whoever did it [the poster], it is laughable. I left Onyaanya in 1958 when I went to Oniipa Boys School. Very few people know me there,” he said, suggesting he would not appeal to many local voters.
Speaking from Onyaanya yesterday, Angula said: “I joined politics as a young man and now I have a bald head. For now, I can only go back to politics to put down fires or to rebuild my heritage which has been destroyed by Fishrot.”
Angula attributed his and his campaign slate Team Swapo's humiliating loss in 2017 to the Fishrot bribery scandal, which has landed former ministers Sacky Shanghala and Bernard Esau behind bars.
Records show the party's congress benefitted from the bribery scandal, with some of it having paid for logistics of the elective congregation.
Angula had previously stated that Fishrot money had “changed hands” to buy votes at the congress – a claim firmly denied by Geingob's winning camp.
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