Swapo members warned against succession talks

Swapo secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa has lambasted “unsympathetic and insensitive” party members who have been quoted in the media discussing the implications of president Hage Geingob’s death on the party’s leadership succession process.

She urged the party’s rank and file to wait for the central committee to pronounce itself on the matter. Geingob’s death has opened up a vacancy for a Swapo president, and a frantic scramble to fill it has ensued.

Talks on the party’s future without Geingob continue to make headlines, and it remains a hot topic within party structures.

In a statement issued yesterday, Shaningwa said it is not the right time to talk about succession matters while the nation is mourning Geingob’s death.

The late president is set to be buried at Heroes’ Acre on Sunday, 25 February. He died on Sunday, 6 February.

“During this period, the Swapo Party expected that the late president Geingob is remembered and respected in a befitting manner. Regrettably, Swapo Party has observed and noted with grave concern and disappointment in various pronouncements by some party members, through the media, on a number of constitutional aspects and implications following the death of the party president during the national mourning period,” it read.

New president

The party is expected, as per its constitution, to hold an elective extraordinary congress within 90 days to elect a new party president who will stand as its candidate for the presidential polls later this year.

Incumbent Swapo vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is expected to vacate her current position and stand for the party’s top spot. If she manages to emerge victorious, it will be the first time the former liberation movement is led by a woman.

There are, however, talks within Swapo circles that other members will be in the race to lead the party too.