Approached for comment yesterday, Kapenda declined to respond to statements made by his deputy Alpheus Muheua but said that the NUNW structures would "definitely meet as soon as possible - before the end of the year".

Kapenda indicated at the weekend that he would call a meeting to resolve the dispute between Naholo and some affiliates - on Monday, Muheua told The Namibian that there was nothing left to discuss.

As far as Muheua is concerned, the former acting Secretary General is history.

He claims Naholo was sacked procedurally.

Naholo differed in public with a group within the umbrella union linked to former President Sam Nujoma.

Muheua, Peter Nevonga of the Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu) and others issued a statement a week earlier backing Nujoma's account of the events of April 1 1989.

As a result, Naholo wrote to fellow union leaders and took issue with them over the statement.

He said the NUNW had not decided to issue a statement, as claimed by those who released it behind his and Kapenda's back.

Claiming that it was a collective decision of all NUNW affiliates, the statement backed Nujoma's denials that it was his fault, as the then commander-in-chief of the ruling party's military wing, that hundreds of Swapo fighters were killed on April 1 1989.

Naholo said a letter was issued by the NUNW secretariat calling for wider consultations "as well as prudent consideration of the matter around which the media statement revolved".

Naholo was appointed by the NUNW Central Committee after the resignation of Ranga Haikali.

Some NUNW affiliates, most notably the Namibia National Teachers' Union (Nantu), said they were not consulted about Naholo's dismissal and refused to be partner to the decision.

The issue has strained even further the relationship among NUNW sister unions as the division between those supporting Nujoma and those sympathetic to former Foreign Minister Hidipo Hamutenya widen.

The issue burst into the open with the nomination of Hamutenya as a possible Swapo candidate for Namibia's presidency.

Representatives of unions supporting Nujoma voted for President Hifikepunye Pohamba at the Swapo extraordinary congress.

Last year, a similar fallout occurred when Kapenda and Naholo announced that the NUNW would back Hamutenya.

The other group ordered them to withdraw the statement as they claimed that there had not been proper consultations before the decision was taken.

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