Congress of Democrats saga on its way to court

ONE of the two rival factions in the official opposition Congress of Democrats is set to seek an urgent High Court interdict today to prevent the group supporting Ben Ulenga from expelling them from the party and to prevent Ulenga from taking “any official actions” in the name of CoD.

“We have consulted intensively with our lawyers and the advocate today (Monday) as it is the first time such a situation has evolved in Namibia,” Ignatius Shixwameni said yesterday. “The court papers will be finalised so that the urgent application can be made on Tuesday,” he told The Namibian.Shixwameni leads the faction that calls itself the ‘majority group’ – those party members who walked out of an extraordinary CoD congress at Keetmanshoop in May after it accused Ulenga of fraud and irregularities during the leadership elections.The ‘majority group’ held a meeting with members from across the country on Saturday, choosing a new interim party leadership of 10 people with Shixwameni at the helm and including CoD Members of Parliament Nora Schimming-Chase, Elma Dienda and Kala Gertze.They suspended their fellow MPs Ulenga, Tsudao Gurirab and Rosa Namises from the party, together with a few other CoD office bearers controversially elected at the Keetmanshoop congress.Ulenga and his supporters also met over the weekend.They, in turn, expelled the three ‘rebel’ MPs from the party.Ulenga further announced he would inform the Speaker of the National Assembly that the CoD would withdraw Schimming-Chase, Gertze and Dienda from Parliament.By late yesterday afternoon, staff at the National Assembly had not received a letter from Ulenga to that effect.”No such letter came in,” an official in the Speaker’s office told The Namibian.Ulenga, who first signed an agreement to have an independent panel investigate the Keetmanshoop elections and to abide by its findings, backtracked after the panel nullified those party elections because of to irregularities and fraud.Ulenga had also declared on NBC national radio just after the Keetmanshoop debacle that he and his team would resign should any irregularities be found.Instead, Ulenga did a U-turn at the end of last month.He told the panel that the agreement was signed by a few “individuals” (including himself) but that the CoD was not party to the agreement.Ulenga and his team, by their own agreement, were supposed to step down a week ago in favour of an interim committee consisting of three people from each of the two factions.He refused and pulled out of that process.”The court papers will be finalised so that the urgent application can be made on Tuesday,” he told The Namibian.Shixwameni leads the faction that calls itself the ‘majority group’ – those party members who walked out of an extraordinary CoD congress at Keetmanshoop in May after it accused Ulenga of fraud and irregularities during the leadership elections.The ‘majority group’ held a meeting with members from across the country on Saturday, choosing a new interim party leadership of 10 people with Shixwameni at the helm and including CoD Members of Parliament Nora Schimming-Chase, Elma Dienda and Kala Gertze. They suspended their fellow MPs Ulenga, Tsudao Gurirab and Rosa Namises from the party, together with a few other CoD office bearers controversially elected at the Keetmanshoop congress.Ulenga and his supporters also met over the weekend.They, in turn, expelled the three ‘rebel’ MPs from the party.Ulenga further announced he would inform the Speaker of the National Assembly that the CoD would withdraw Schimming-Chase, Gertze and Dienda from Parliament.By late yesterday afternoon, staff at the National Assembly had not received a letter from Ulenga to that effect.”No such letter came in,” an official in the Speaker’s office told The Namibian.Ulenga, who first signed an agreement to have an independent panel investigate the Keetmanshoop elections and to abide by its findings, backtracked after the panel nullified those party elections because of to irregularities and fraud.Ulenga had also declared on NBC national radio just after the Keetmanshoop debacle that he and his team would resign should any irregularities be found.Instead, Ulenga did a U-turn at the end of last month.He told the panel that the agreement was signed by a few “individuals” (including himself) but that the CoD was not party to the agreement.Ulenga and his team, by their own agreement, were supposed to step down a week ago in favour of an interim committee consisting of three people from each of the two factions.He refused and pulled out of that process.