Fierce nomination race grips Swapo ranks

THE campaign to choose Swapo’s candidate to be the next President is heating up.

Meetings of dozens of people addressed by the various candidates are being held deep into the night. Individuals are being “summoned” to “high places” to be told of the importance of choosing one candidate over the other.Candidates are personally giving up a lot of their time to talk with delegates and other comrades who could give impetus to bid to occupy State House.There is even talk that at least one candidate has acquired bakkies to be able to travel to all corners of the country.But, so far, Minister Nahas Angula’s campaign seems to be the most visible and public of the three nominees.His strategy is less clear, but it appears to be primarily a one-man effort.As far as two weeks back, Angula was distributing his “core values” on a standard postcard-sized page.On the front is the Swapo symbol ‘Die mannetjie’, the Namibian flag, his photo and a motto saying “Nahas Angula for Unity and Fairness and Progress!!!” On the back, Angula expounds:’Unity is equal to peace and justice, fairness to transparency and accountability and progress to capacity building and empowerment’.In addition, Angula has distributed an A4-page bearing his condensed curriculum vitae with the heading ‘Comrade Education for All’.He prefers to call his campaign “information sharing”.Angula readily admits that his campaign is “not really structured or anything.Like those cards, it’s just myself who did it.”He has no core group of people to drive the process, he says:”Just trying to link up with some people in the region.Networking a bit, here and there.”That is in sharp contrast to Foreign Affairs Minister Hamutenya’s campaign.Some say Hamutenya is backed by “intellectuals, senior officials in parastatals and businesspeople”.But Bob Kandetu, one of Hamutenya supporters, says the support is much broader – churches, the labour movement, students.Kandetu dismissed reports that he was Hamutenya’s campaign manager or co-ordinator.There was no one like that as far as he was concerned.But they meet regularly.Some people have offered bakkies to travel around the country to spread the message to delegates and anyone who can influence them.There are discussions on setting up a bank account to ease logistics as most of the money, time and campaigning is organised ad hoc.”I can’t speak of other candidates, but as far as we are concerned, [the campaigning] is akin to the times of the liberation struggle” when people used to sacrifice personal resources and time.Minister Hamutenya said in an interview last week that he had been fielding more meetings than he usually would to speak to well-wishers and those interested in learning about his plans for the country if chosen.One Hamutenya supporter said:”The campaign is hot.We are targeting congress delegates, meetings are going on in the dead of night.”Kandetu rates Hamutenya’s chances as “very, very strong”.He was drawing from his experience before Independence.”As you know, I’m a social worker by training.We know what’s happening around the country, and that’s why I’m saying this.”Pohamba has so far declined to be interviewed.Nonetheless, the perception persists that he is doing nothing on his own and instead relies heavily on President Sam Nujoma to ensure election.Nujoma is said to be summoning delegates to State House, sending some Ministers to outlying areas to spread the message, and using his own visits around the country to drum up support for Pohamba – the man whom he had wanted to foist on the Politburo and the Central Committee as the sole candidate.Nujoma is the one who can swing votes almost single-handedly, it is feared.His critics claim Nujoma is desperate and has started to campaign against Hamutenya.Despite the apparent tranquillity on the surface, intense behind-the-scenes lobbying is expected to push the competition among the comrades to feverish levels, with many candidates predicting the campaign may become personal.Individuals are being “summoned” to “high places” to be told of the importance of choosing one candidate over the other.Candidates are personally giving up a lot of their time to talk with delegates and other comrades who could give impetus to bid to occupy State House.There is even talk that at least one candidate has acquired bakkies to be able to travel to all corners of the country.But, so far, Minister Nahas Angula’s campaign seems to be the most visible and public of the three nominees.His strategy is less clear, but it appears to be primarily a one-man effort.As far as two weeks back, Angula was distributing his “core values” on a standard postcard-sized page.On the front is the Swapo symbol ‘Die mannetjie’, the Namibian flag, his photo and a motto saying “Nahas Angula for Unity and Fairness and Progress!!!” On the back, Angula expounds:’Unity is equal to peace and justice, fairness to transparency and accountability and progress to capacity building and empowerment’.In addition, Angula has distributed an A4-page bearing his condensed curriculum vitae with the heading ‘Comrade Education for All’.He prefers to call his campaign “information sharing”.Angula readily admits that his campaign is “not really structured or anything.Like those cards, it’s just myself who did it.”He has no core group of people to drive the process, he says:”Just trying to link up with some people in the region.Networking a bit, here and there.”That is in sharp contrast to Foreign Affairs Minister Hamutenya’s campaign.Some say Hamutenya is backed by “intellectuals, senior officials in parastatals and businesspeople”.But Bob Kandetu, one of Hamutenya supporters, says the support is much broader – churches, the labour movement, students.Kandetu dismissed reports that he was Hamutenya’s campaign manager or co-ordinator.There was no one like that as far as he was concerned.But they meet regularly.Some people have offered bakkies to travel around the country to spread the message to delegates and anyone who can influence them.There are discussions on setting up a bank account to ease logistics as most of the money, time and campaigning is organised ad hoc.”I can’t speak of other candidates, but as far as we are concerned, [the campaigning] is akin to the times of the liberation struggle” when people used to sacrifice personal resources and time.Minister Hamutenya said in an interview last week that he had been fielding more meetings than he usually would to speak to well-wishers and those interested in learning about his plans for the country if chosen.One Hamutenya supporter said:”The campaign is hot.We are targeting congress delegates, meetings are going on in the dead of night.”Kandetu rates Hamutenya’s chances as “very, very strong”.He was drawing from his experience before Independence.”As you know, I’m a social worker by training.We know what’s happening around the country, and that’s why I’m saying this.”Pohamba has so far declined to be interviewed.Nonetheless, the perception persists that he is doing nothing on his own and instead relies heavily on President Sam Nujoma to ensure election.Nujoma is said to be summoning delegates to State House, sending some Ministers to outlying areas to spread the message, and using his own visits around the country to drum up support for Pohamba – the man whom he had wanted to foist on the Politburo and the Central Committee as the sole candidate.Nujoma is the one who can swing votes almost single-handedly, it is feared.His critics claim Nujoma is desperate and has started to campaign against Hamutenya.Despite the apparent tranquillity on the surface, intense behind-the-scenes lobbying is expected to push the competition among the comrades to feverish levels, with many candidates predicting the campaign may become personal.