CoD congress election ‘null and void’

THE results of the leadership elections of the Congress of Democrats (CoD) opposition party held at Keetmanshoop in May were declared null and void yesterday by a specially appointed audit panel.

Panel Chairman Magistrate Clement Daniels presented the findings to the party at lunchtime, declaring the elections “‘null and void”. The panel detected “fraud and cheating …(and) this is therefore conclusive proof of serious irregularities and sufficient to nullify the elections”, the audit panel concluded.The CoD held an extraordinary party congress at Keetmanshoop to discuss growing dissatisfaction with the alleged lack of leadership of party president Ben Ulenga and to elect new leaders.The election process was regarded as controversial and riddled with irregularities, however.Two candidates who challenged Ulenga’s post, Ignatius Shixwameni and Nora Schimming-Chase, staged a walkout with 150 of the approximately 300 delegates after it was announced that Shixwameni had missed out to Ulenga by 14 votes amid claims of foul play.Afterwards Ulenga publicly declared he and his “entire elected leadership team” would step down should the audit prove there had been irregularities at Keetmanshoop.”We now expect Ben Ulenga and his team to do the only honourable thing – which is to step down,” Shixwameni told The Namibian yesterday.Only members of the group under Ignatius Shixwameni, which walked out at Keetmanshoop, attended yesterday’s meeting with Daniels.”None of the CoD leaders elected in Keetmanshoop attended Daniels’s briefing at the offices of the Council of Churches of Namibia (CCN),” Kala Gertze, who was the party’s secretary general for two years until the extraordinary congress, told The Namibian.”Maybe they were tipped off about the outcome and decided to boycott the briefing,” Shixwameni told an impromptu press briefing late yesterday afternoon.”The outcome of the audit is a great day for democracy within CoD and democracy in Namibia,” Shixwameni said.”The whole process was a good lesson for the country since one does not have to fear standing up for one’s rights and for justice.”The Shixwameni group will meet today to discuss the 20-page audit report.A larger conference with CoD representatives from all regions will be held to discuss the way forward.According to the terms of reference for the audit panel -agreed on by both CoD groups – an interim leadership committee will have to be elected, which will then call a new congress within three months.At that event, the top party leadership of CoD will have to be elected again.Both the Ulenga and Shixwameni factions agreed in writing that if any individual CoD members were found to be involved in the Keetmanshoop election irregularities, they would not be allowed to stand for a leadership post for 12 months.It is understood that the audit panel did not mention any names, but will consult with the two CoD groups on that issue.The other three members of the audit panel were Tony Hancocks, Ian Swartz and Samson Ndeikwila.Daniels did not want to make any statement to the press.”The report is there in writing and I will not have any comment for the media,” he told The Namibian.Approached for comment, Rosa Namises, who was elected as secretary general at the controversial Keetmanshoop congress, said she was on a mission in the Kavango Region.”I have not read the report and cannot comment on it,” she told The Namibian.Ulenga is out of the country.”We are waiting for copies of the audit report and then we can comment on it after we studied it,” said Tsudao Gurirab, who retained his position as CoD Chairman at the disputed Keetmanshoop congress.Although Gurirab agreed to be phoned again between 17h00 and 18h00, a friend of his answered the phone, saying that Gurirab had gone out and she did not know when he would return.The panel detected “fraud and cheating …(and) this is therefore conclusive proof of serious irregularities and sufficient to nullify the elections”, the audit panel concluded.The CoD held an extraordinary party congress at Keetmanshoop to discuss growing dissatisfaction with the alleged lack of leadership of party president Ben Ulenga and to elect new leaders.The election process was regarded as controversial and riddled with irregularities, however.Two candidates who challenged Ulenga’s post, Ignatius Shixwameni and Nora Schimming-Chase, staged a walkout with 150 of the approximately 300 delegates after it was announced that Shixwameni had missed out to Ulenga by 14 votes amid claims of foul play.Afterwards Ulenga publicly declared he and his “entire elected leadership team” would step down should the audit prove there had been irregularities at Keetmanshoop. “We now expect Ben Ulenga and his team to do the only honourable thing – which is to step down,” Shixwameni told The Namibian yesterday.Only members of the group under Ignatius Shixwameni, which walked out at Keetmanshoop, attended yesterday’s meeting with Daniels.”None of the CoD leaders elected in Keetmanshoop attended Daniels’s briefing at the offices of the Council of Churches of Namibia (CCN),” Kala Gertze, who was the party’s secretary general for two years until the extraordinary congress, told The Namibian.”Maybe they were tipped off about the outcome and decided to boycott the briefing,” Shixwameni told an impromptu press briefing late yesterday afternoon.”The outcome of the audit is a great day for democracy within CoD and democracy in Namibia,” Shixwameni said.”The whole process was a good lesson for the country since one does not have to fear standing up for one’s rights and for justice.”The Shixwameni group will meet today to discuss the 20-page audit report.A larger conference with CoD representatives from all regions will be held to discuss the way forward.According to the terms of reference for the audit panel -agreed on by both CoD groups – an interim leadership committee will have to be elected, which will then call a new congress within three months.At that event, the top party leadership of CoD will have to be elected again.Both the Ulenga and Shixwameni factions agreed in writing that if any individual CoD members were found to be involved in the Keetmanshoop election irregularities, they would not be allowed to stand for a leadership post for 12 months.It is understood that the audit panel did not mention any names, but will consult with the two CoD groups on that issue.The other three members of the audit panel were Tony Hancocks, Ian Swartz and Samson Ndeikwila.Daniels did not want to make any statement to the press.”The report is there in writing and I will not have any comment for the media,” he told The Namibian.Approached for comment, Rosa Namises, who was elected as secretary general at the controversial Keetmanshoop congress, said she was on a mission in the Kavango Region.”I have not read the report and cannot comment on it,” she told The Namibian.Ulenga is out of the country.”We are waiting for copies of the audit report and then we can comment on it after we studied it,” said Tsudao Gurirab, who retained his position as CoD Chairman at the disputed Keetmanshoop congress.Although Gurirab agreed to be phoned again between 17h00 and 18h00, a friend of his answered the phone, saying that Gurirab had gone out and she did not know when he would return.