Changes to Swapo poll list spark anger

SOME Swapo supporters at Walvis Bay are furious about alterations made to the party list for the local authority elections at the harbour town.

Swapo’s Deputy Secretary General John Pandeni and Agriculture Minister Helmut Angula recently went to Walvis Bay, on instructions from the party leadership, to change the list of the candidates, after concerns were raised in some quarters that it was an “all-Owambo list”. In the process, some candidates who collected as many as 20 votes were replaced by people who collected less than half the number at the party’s district conference.Now party members at Walvis Bay claim that Angula and Pandeni contravened election procedures approved by the party’s Central Committee a month ago.According to those procedures the district executive committee of Swapo is tasked to “identify and select loyal, reliable and suitable” candidates and forward the names to the regional executive committee for confirmation.After confirmation by the regional executive committee, the names are sent back to the district executive committee, which forwards them to the district conference.Swapo members claimed the two senior Swapo leaders changed the names after they consulted people who initially showed no interest in the primaries.”Those with links to senior party leaders told them that the Owambos have taken over.But the Owambos were elected through the right process.Even some of those people brought in at the expense of the so-called Owambos have links to Owambo people but are only light coloured,” said one Swapo member.They were concerned that in changing the list, Swapo lost the 50-50 balance it had between male and female candidates.”We now have four women and six men.We are really disappointed,” said another.The sources said tribal politics had played such a role that some sections in the party had called for more ombwitis – Owambos who leave the North and never or rarely return to the former Owamboland and often speak Otjiherero instead of the Ndonga, Kwanyama or Owambo languages.A senior Swapo official at the Windhoek headquarters said the party was satisfied with the report by Angula and Pandeni.Last weekend Secretary General Ngarikutuke Tjiriange visited the town to officially present the candidates.Sources said there was some unhappiness when he read out the names, and that Tjiriange had called for unity.”He told us to forget about the differences of the past and to work together,” said one Swapo member.Another said Tjiriange told members to keep their concerns out of the newspapers because “they are not Swapo papers”.Swapo has eight seats on the Walvis Bay Town Council while the DTA has two.If the party retains them, only three of the incumbents – including Mayor King Mandume Muatunga – will return after the May 14 elections.Gone will be the likes of Chairman of the management committee, Emmanuel Wilfred, and Drusilla Guriras.In the process, some candidates who collected as many as 20 votes were replaced by people who collected less than half the number at the party’s district conference.Now party members at Walvis Bay claim that Angula and Pandeni contravened election procedures approved by the party’s Central Committee a month ago.According to those procedures the district executive committee of Swapo is tasked to “identify and select loyal, reliable and suitable” candidates and forward the names to the regional executive committee for confirmation.After confirmation by the regional executive committee, the names are sent back to the district executive committee, which forwards them to the district conference.Swapo members claimed the two senior Swapo leaders changed the names after they consulted people who initially showed no interest in the primaries.”Those with links to senior party leaders told them that the Owambos have taken over.But the Owambos were elected through the right process.Even some of those people brought in at the expense of the so-called Owambos have links to Owambo people but are only light coloured,” said one Swapo member.They were concerned that in changing the list, Swapo lost the 50-50 balance it had between male and female candidates.”We now have four women and six men.We are really disappointed,” said another.The sources said tribal politics had played such a role that some sections in the party had called for more ombwitis – Owambos who leave the North and never or rarely return to the former Owamboland and often speak Otjiherero instead of the Ndonga, Kwanyama or Owambo languages.A senior Swapo official at the Windhoek headquarters said the party was satisfied with the report by Angula and Pandeni.Last weekend Secretary General Ngarikutuke Tjiriange visited the town to officially present the candidates.Sources said there was some unhappiness when he read out the names, and that Tjiriange had called for unity.”He told us to forget about the differences of the past and to work together,” said one Swapo member.Another said Tjiriange told members to keep their concerns out of the newspapers because “they are not Swapo papers”.Swapo has eight seats on the Walvis Bay Town Council while the DTA has two.If the party retains them, only three of the incumbents – including Mayor King Mandume Muatunga – will return after the May 14 elections.Gone will be the likes of Chairman of the management committee, Emmanuel Wilfred, and Drusilla Guriras.