Allegations of family control rock IPC Rundu elections
Independent Patriots of Change (IPC) members from the Rundu Urban constituency, speaking under anonymity, told Namibian Sun yesterday that they are dissatisfied after the party’s head office reportedly cancelled local elections held on 18 September.
They said the election process initially went smoothly, with candidates voted for from several branches.
Each branch was supposed to nominate two candidates for the regional council and one for the local authority.
However, they said not all branches received the information, resulting in low representation at the polls.
“Only some branches showed up,” they said, adding that requests to postpone the elections to ensure full branch participation were refused by the local chairperson and vice-chairperson.
They said some branches, including Dama and Narayapa, presented more candidates than permitted.
Favour certain families
One branch reportedly submitted four candidates instead of the two allowed, and another submitted three.
“The list was dominated by family members,” they said.
They added that when the candidate list was sent to head office, instructions were given to re-elect the representatives, but the process continued to favour certain families.
“Even though we have to elect ourselves again, the list is dominated by families instead of candidates from other branches,” they said.
They said efforts to raise complaints with local leadership and head office were ignored, and some members decided not to participate in the re-election process.
Knowledge of the events
“The chairperson and vice-chairperson are not fair at all, and head office also has not considered us,” they said.
In a separate telephone interview with Namibian Sun, IPC secretary general Christine Aochumus said she had no knowledge of the events.
She said she could not comment without specific details, including dates, times, and the source of the instructions.
“These things are delegated to the local branches where they do the elections. It’s not administered from head office,” she said.
Efforts to reach IPC regional chairperson Frans Kandjilu were unsuccessful at the time of publication, with his phone unreachable and questions left pending.
[email protected]
They said the election process initially went smoothly, with candidates voted for from several branches.
Each branch was supposed to nominate two candidates for the regional council and one for the local authority.
However, they said not all branches received the information, resulting in low representation at the polls.
“Only some branches showed up,” they said, adding that requests to postpone the elections to ensure full branch participation were refused by the local chairperson and vice-chairperson.
They said some branches, including Dama and Narayapa, presented more candidates than permitted.
Favour certain families
One branch reportedly submitted four candidates instead of the two allowed, and another submitted three.
“The list was dominated by family members,” they said.
They added that when the candidate list was sent to head office, instructions were given to re-elect the representatives, but the process continued to favour certain families.
“Even though we have to elect ourselves again, the list is dominated by families instead of candidates from other branches,” they said.
They said efforts to raise complaints with local leadership and head office were ignored, and some members decided not to participate in the re-election process.
Knowledge of the events
“The chairperson and vice-chairperson are not fair at all, and head office also has not considered us,” they said.
In a separate telephone interview with Namibian Sun, IPC secretary general Christine Aochumus said she had no knowledge of the events.
She said she could not comment without specific details, including dates, times, and the source of the instructions.
“These things are delegated to the local branches where they do the elections. It’s not administered from head office,” she said.
Efforts to reach IPC regional chairperson Frans Kandjilu were unsuccessful at the time of publication, with his phone unreachable and questions left pending.
[email protected]
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