Kazenambo’s tears water Swapo policy conference

By: SELMA SHIPANGA

PARTIES have hosts. Weddings have brides and grooms. And the Swapo Party has Kazenambo Kazenambo.

The opening of the first ever Swapo Party National Policy Conference was attended by many liberation chanting youths and cadres of yesteryear.
For some, its a joyous occasion, for others an emotional roller-coaster filled with uncertainty.
But no one owned yesterday’s opening quite like Kazenambo.
Red, blue and green dominated every corner of the conference hall at the Safari Hotel where the conference started yesterday.
Magreth Mensah-Williams, in all her splendour even carried a Swapo-colour-inspired shiny handbag.
The National Planning Commission’s Tom Alweendo had on a Swapo scarf.
Member of the Swapo Think Tank, Lazarus Jacobs, looked swanky in tight black skinny jeans and a suit jacket while tightly clutching on to what looked like a suitcase during the whole morning.
Even Usko Nghaamwa, governor of the Ohangwena Region, who just last week was part of a group of people who ordered the closure of a school because its patron is Hidipo Hamutenya, was wearing a well-fitting black suit.
The cadres laughed and chatted just before the programme started.
And as with all political events, the Namibian anthem, African Union anthem and in this case the Swapo Party anthem marked the opening of the proceedings.
And then it happened. Just as they were getting to the end the Namibian anthem, Kazenambo started CRYING.
Tears rolling down his face, at some point he even had to abandon his standing position and sit down as emotions overwhelmed him.
The anthem says “their blood waters our freedom”, and yesterday, just like that, Kazenambo’s tears watered the policy conference.
Sitting next to him was Mensah-Williams, who did her best to console the emotional enigma that is KK.
Whether the national anthem was what made KK cry remains a mystery. SPYL leader Elijah Ngurare, whom KK declared war against last week, could not have been the cause as he sat very far from the youth minister during the conference yesterday.
As the secretary general of the Swapo Party, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, took to the stage, sporting a curly hairstyle, her message came in the form of a warning: “Be wary of distractors” she told the conference.
“The spinners like to dice our party with all sort of opinions and use their platforms to apparently put pressure on the structures of the party to discuss its affairs publicly so that they can have an opportunity also to weigh in or influence the discussions, not knowing that all the ranks and files of our party at all levels of the structures are already indeed going to be represented at the congress. The spinners like to second-guess about the ‘whose and the whats’ of this world,” she said.
Perhaps her notable remark was when she said that “as far as our party is concerned, there is no vacancy in the presidium right now. Comrade Hifikepunye Pohamba is still our President and we will uphold his legacy till the end.”
During his two-minute address, Prime Minister Nahas made it clear to all public servants who are attending the conference during the course of the week that they are “not on holiday”.
“You may not be in office for the next four days but you are here to work,” he said.
And perhaps the most confusing moment came when Swapo vice-president Hage Geingob, who was the director of ceremonies, uttered the following words when he called Nangolo Mbumba up on the stage to offer the vote of thanks: “Is there anyone who was annoyed by Nangolo Mbumba? He is a very professional person who does not want any war with anyone.”

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