Some DTA members in the Kavango under Vincent Kanyetu used the national radio service of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) to demand that Kaura step down as a candidate.

The written petition sent by Kanyetu and other DTA members to the broadcaster was read over the airwaves on Wednesday.

Alois Gende, the party's Secretary General, who also hails from that region, said he was "shocked and disappointed" about this.

"There was no such meeting in the whole of Kavango where such a decision (to demand Kaura to step down) was taken," a furious Gende told The Namibian on Wednesday.

The DTA then issued a press release saying "the DTA cannot be used as a political ball game by those who think that they can get away with murder".

"Disciplinary steps will be taken against the culprits.

Party members must be calm and not be upset by those small-minded politicians," it said.

The move by the alleged DTA 'Kavango rebels' appears to come from dissatisfaction among some members in the region with the DTA leadership.

It was "passive, lacking fresh ideas and sitting in a comfort zone", a party insider from Rundu told The Namibian yesterday.

"We want McHenry Venaani.

Kaura has been there now for eight years and all he talks about [at rallies] is increasing the State pensions and dissolving NamWater once in power," the frustrated member said.

"When will our party ever be able to garner enough votes to rule Namibia? We first must become a strong opposition party again like at Independence," the source said.

Approached for comment, Venaani told The Namibian that he was unaware of what was happening in the Kavango and had not even decided whether he would campaign for a leadership position again.

"The CC meeting is still some time away and I would definitely work through the party structures should I want to be a candidate," he said.

Venaani became Namibia's youngest Member of Parliament in 2003, at the age of 25.

At 18, he became the youngest CC member of the DTA and he was elected Secretary General in 2002.

In 2005 he challenged Kaura for the DTA presidency but lost, and he was not re-elected as Secretary General.

Since then he has served as an ordinary MP for the DTA in the National Assembly.

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