Shaningwa humbled

The Swapo leadership has ordered Swapo secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa to halt the recall of three Swapo councillors at Rundu, pending the outcome of a politburo meeting next week.

This was among the outcomes of an urgent meeting held between Swapo councillors from Rundu and Okahandja and the party's top leadership on Monday at the Swapo headquarters in Windhoek.

Allegations of favouritism and dishonesty were levelled at Shaningwa during the meeting chaired by President Hage Geingob.

Toini Hausiku, the wife of Swapo deputy SG Marco Hausiku, who was one of the Rundu councillors recalled last week after defying a directive from Shaningwa, allegedly told the meeting that the SG was conflicted and that her directives were personally motivated and not in the best interest of the party or the masses.

A source said Hausiku at one point referred to Shaningwa as a “liar” and told the gathering that her directive to retain Verna Sinimbo as Rundu mayor was the result of a close alliance between the two.

“Hausiku told everyone, including Geingob, how Shaningwa visits Rundu secretly and meets with Sinimbo, who always accommodates her whether she's on official or private visits,” the source said.

Hausiku allegedly also pointed out that whenever a disagreement would erupt during a council meeting, Sinimbo would remind the gathering how well-connected she is within Swapo.

The source also revealed that Shaningwa opted not to respond to the allegations levelled against her, allegedly saying she does not respond to “nonsense”.







Attempts to get comment from Shaningwa yesterday proved futile.



The source said further that Geingob kept referring to Isack Kandingu as “mayor” during Monday's meeting, which prompted Sinimbo to inform the gathering that she was willing to accept being an ordinary council member.



Groups of Swapo councillors at Rundu and Okahandja have defied Shaningwa's directives.







Okahandja mess



According to Swapo's Okahandja district coordinator, Martha Mwandingi-Simeon, when they were summoned for an urgent meeting with the party's top leadership they were asked to “clear their chests”.



Shaningwa had issued a directive to Okahandja that the office-bearers structure at the town should be changed, with Johannes 'Congo' Hindjou being demoted from mayor to an ordinary member, while Sophia Upithe would be elected mayor. Shaningwa also wanted Gideon Uwu-Khaeb to be elected as deputy mayor and Hileni Iita as chairperson of the management committee.



At Rundu, Shaningwa instructed that Sinimbo retain her position as mayor and that she be deputised by Ralph Ihemba again.



Both directives were defied by groups of Swapo councillors, even after an earlier politburo meeting had endorsed Shaningwa's directives.



“We just discussed the directive and what exactly the issue was for the Okahandja town council. They were just trying to iron out the issue and to know what was really happening. They wanted to know why exactly the Okahandja town council defied the directive,” Mwandingi-Simeon said yesterday.



She emphasised that Shaningwa had no right to issue a directive.



“We are now waiting for the outcome of the politburo meeting,” she said.



Last Thursday the party recalled three of its Rundu councillors, including newly elected mayor Kandingu, after the trio were elected in defiance of a directive that the town's official structure must remain unchanged.



Kandingu was elected earlier this month and sworn in as the new mayor of Rundu, while Hausiku was elected as deputy mayor and Anastacia Shinduvi and All People's Party (APP) councillor Matheus Wakudumo were elected as the other members of the management committee.



Kandingu, Shinduvi and Hausiku were recalled by Shaningwa, but have since threatened legal action.



At the same time Okahandja also rebelled against Shaningwa's instruction and re-elected Hindjou as mayor, while shunning Upithe, who had rejected her nomination by Frederick Shimanda of the United Democratic Front (UDF), because she believed her fellow Swapo councillors were out of order for nominating Hindjou for the position.



Mwandingi-Simeon said Shaningwa had ignored them when they informed her of the unacceptable behaviour of her proposed candidates.



“We told her about their behaviour that could just kill the town. We informed her [Shaningwa] about everything, but she would not listen. So what can we do? Swapo has its constitution and its procedures and we followed them,” she said.



There is currently confusion in Khorixas, where Swapo councillors were said to have defied an instruction from Shaningwa to retain Elizabeth Geises as mayor.



Geises told NBC that the town's political leadership had been weakened by infighting and power struggles.



According to her these divisions and infighting have now also halted council meetings.

“By now we should have already started with our first meeting. There are lots of things that need to be done… it is not good at all. They are behind with a lot of things,” she said.

KENYA KAMBOWE AND JEMIMA BEUKES