Communist Party back to the drawing board

THE 810 votes for the Communist Party in December’s national elections are clear testimony that Namibians are tolerant of different ideologies, according to the party’s Secretary General, Harry Boesak.

Speaking to The Namibian about what the future holds for the party, Boesak said they would now concentrate on establishing branches by first identifying focal persons.Boesak was clear that they would not have branches all over Namibia at this stage but said they wanted to use focal persons to spread their ideas.The branches will serve as activity centres and will concentrate on community issues such as the provision of basic services.’We want to build the fighting organs of the masses through tackling issues dealing with their fundamental rights. We are duty bound to join that struggle and whoever opposes those rights will deal with us,’ Boesak said.The Communist Party has come under severe criticism for disappearing from the political arena after every election and only popping up when campaigns start again.Boesak said they had been involved in low-key community activities and did not utilise the mainstream media for exposure.’But now we are looking at setting up a communist press as an alternative for our voice. We will take responsibility to highlight our own activities because we definitely need to entrench ourselves in the community,’ he said.The Communist Party was previously known as the Workers’ Revolutionary Party and went into a pact with the South West Africa National Union (Swanu) in 1999 but the effort mustered no parliamentary results as they only garnered 1 885 votes (0,35 per cent).The party’s leaders feel they have a role to play in Namibian politics and want to go back to the drawing board.