Swapo’s night of long knives

The nomination process at the ruling party’s marathon central committee meeting has given a glimpse of the potential alliances and slates ahead of November’s elective congress.

The 12-hour meeting, which ended just before midnight on Saturday, saw old friends and foes unite in a bid to canvas adequate support for their candidates.

Vice-presidential candidates Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila as well as secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa were the only ones guaranteed a spot in the line-up to contest, having already been endorsed by the politburo.

Political observers cautioned that the number of candidates running for the vice-president position could further strain unity in the party through divisions, a situation which will be contrary to Swapo’s elusive unity crusade.

By the look of things, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila is enjoying popular support within the central committee ranks. This is despite murmurs in party circles that she lacks the necessary political capital to challenge the more experienced Nandi-Ndaitwah.

Saturday’s nomination and secondment trend revealed the re-emergence of slates within the Swapo stable, with Nandi-Ndaitwah and Kuugongelwa-Amadhila standing on opposite sides, and has also lifted the veil on where President Hage Geingob’s loyalty could possibly lie.

Slates and sides

With congress less than three months away, names of party influencers such as Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, Ida Hoffmann, Margaret Mensah-Williams and Tobie Aupindi played a key role during the nomination process. They are all linked to Kuugongelwa-Amadhila’s camp.

A closer look at the nominations shows that Kuugongelwa-Amadhila’s slate will most probably include Armas Amukwiyu for secretary-general and Evelyn Nawases-Tayele for deputy secretary-general.

Mensah-Williams nominated Amukwiyu for the secretary-general position, while Hanse-Himarwa nominated Nawases-Tayele and Kuugongelwa-Amadhila seconded it.

They are all ardent Geingob supporters.

Hanse-Himarwa and Mensah-Wiliams, who are believed to be influential within the party’s structures in the Hardap and //Karas regions, will play a key role in ensuring that delegates from that part of the country vote for their candidate.

Nandi-Ndaitwah’s slate, if Saturday’s meeting is anything to go by, is an all-female line-up which consists of Shaningwa as secretary-general and Lucia Witbooi as deputy secretary-general.

Witbooi was nominated and seconded by Laura McLeod-Katjirua and Hilma Nicanor respectively. Both are said to be backing Nandi-Ndaitwah.

Decoy

Despite Frans Kapofi and Pohamba Shifeta also being nominated to contest for the vice-president position, it is widely expected that Nandi-Ndaitwah or Kuugongelwa-Amadhila will succeed Geingob.

With Shifeta having been nominated and seconded by Hoffmann and Hanse-Himarwa respectively, who are both in the Kuugongelwa-Amadhila camp, there are talks that he could be a decoy to derail his former boss’ plans to lead the party.

Shifeta, however, denied that he is being used to lure some of Nandi-Ndaitwah’s support, especially the regional vote, seeing that they both hail from Ohangwena.

He said, if he gets the chance to lead, “I plan to bring to the party a new perspective on how things are done and to work on the party unity and to instil hard work.

“After every election, there has been fragmentation of groups and we have to make sure we work on this in order to become a united front, especially when we are going to face the opposition in the national elections”.

Kapofi, too, dismissed the decoy claims, saying: “It must just be part of the aftermath of the central committee meeting and simply stories that cannot hold water. He has not negotiated to be thrown in as decoy.”

“The outcome of this was last night [Saturday], so it is too early for me to talk about it. I am just grateful for my comrades who let me go through - you know I was not there, and because of them I am now through. I don't know anything about this [decoy claims],” he said.

Biggest losers

Some of the biggest losers over the weekend included Martha Namundjebo-Tilahun, Elijah Ngurare and Tom Alweendo.

Despite her nomination and secondment by the sons of the two former presidents of the party for the deputy secretary-general position - in the form of Utoni Nujoma and Mandume Pohamba - the businesswoman-cum-politician could not make the final cut.

Ngurare, dubbed the prodigal son with many calling for his return in party structures, also failed to earn a spot.

He enjoys strong support from one of Swapo’s key affiliates - the unions - which perhaps explains why Namibia National Teachers Union (Nantu) secretary-general Loide Shaanika nominated him for the deputy secretary-general position. The nomination was seconded by former deputy minister Tommy Nambahu.

As for Alweendo, whose name has constantly popped up during the public discourse as Geingob’s ideal successor, his lack of political support was on display following a failed attempt to earn the right to stand as a vice-president candidate at congress.

Burning issue

The party called a press briefing yesterday to officially announce the outcome; however, party spokesperson Hilma Nicanor declined to comment on whether Swapo has abandoned its constitution to allow unqualified candidates, the likes of Alweendo and Kapofi, into the running for vice-president.

Nicanor also declined to comment on how the party will deal with aggrieved party members who threatened to drag the party to court for allowing candidates to stand who allegedly do not meet the criteria.

It also looks increasingly likely that the party, which is bent on maintaining one centre of power, may not stick to its constitutional provision of 50/50 gender representation for the top four positions.

Nicanor said a gender equal composition in the top four will depend on how delegates vote, meaning there is a chance that the top four will consist exclusively of one gender.

“On 50/50, the rules and constitution provide for the 50/50 gender representation to apply, but it is left up to the congress and for the electorates to elect,” she said.

The party’s intra-party campaign will officially kick off this week and candidates for the positions are encouraged to campaign side by side.