Disputes delay Swapo conferences

By: JAN POOLMAN

PROBLEMS and alleged irregularities that have cropped up at some Swapo regional conferences have left the party with no alternative but to extend the deadline for the holding of the conferences by two weeks.

At the same time the verification of the regional conferences will be done and assigned Swapo leaders to the respective regions have to send in their observation reports of the conferences.
“We have received some complaints and need to evaluate them to determine whether they are valid or if that is only sour grapes. We also must verify whether the correct procedures were followed at the regional conferences and it is with regard to this aspect that the reports of the assigned leaders would be important as they have attended the conferences as observers,” Swapo secretary general Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana told The Namibian.
According to her the majority of the regional conferences were already held and in general the spirit was good during the election of office bearers.
“It is only the Caprivi, Omaheke and Karas regions that are still outstanding and they all asked for a postponement. However they have to finalise it by the latest on 14 July.”
Iivula-Ithana cancelled the Omaheke regional conference, which was scheduled for the past weekend, due to alleged irregularities.
The acting Swapo regional coordinator, Job Muniaro, claimed that many of the delegates who were elected at the district level and who wanted to attend the conference are not card-carrying Swapo Party members.
Muniaro will be contesting the position along with Kejamuina Mungendje and Bianca van Wyk.
The stumbling block in the Karas Region is that the Berseba district did not hold their conference by last Friday and the names of those elected at district level should first be sent to the Swapo headquarters before the regional conference could take place.
In the case of Caprivi, the problem of the number of branches in the Katima Rural district have to be sorted out before the regional conference is held.
Some problems are also experienced with the holding of regional conferences of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) with the Caprivi, Otjozondjupa and Hardap Regions still outstanding.
According to the secretary of SPYL, Elijah Ngurare, the regional conferences of SPYL should be finalised by this weekend.
He said only a few SPYL structures were set up in the Otjozondjupa Region which caused the delay, but he is optimistic that their regional conference will be held this weekend.
With regard to the Hardap Region, he said the regional secretary, Titus Huisemab, is employed at the Bethanie Village Council and can therefore no longer serve in that position. “The regional conference will be held this weekend without him and a new person has to be elected as regional secretary for the Swapo youth in that region,” Ngurare said.

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