Geingob, Venaani in mud-slinging over past

President Hage Geingob and Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani have exchanged accusations over their parties’ pre-independence pasts.

Venaani has cautioned Swapo president Geingob not to forget the ruling party’s history of the Lubango dungeons.

This comes after Geingob on Saturday said the PDM, formerly known as the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), oppressed Namibians alongside the apartheid government.

Geingob said this while speaking at Swapo’s 63rd birthday celebrations at Grootfontein over the weekend.

“We succeeded in that historic mission at a time when the DTA collaborated with the enemy to keep the majority of Namibians oppressed and underdeveloped. Shame on them,” the president said.

Geingob said some of the opposition are ashamed because their history is not good at all.

“Facts are facts, history is history. It cannot be changed. We should not be ashamed of our glorious history and the continued confidence we enjoy from the Namibian people,” he said.

Venaani did not take kindly to Geingob’s statement, turning the topic to Swapo’s detention of suspected dissidents in its ranks before Namibia’s independence.

This included the reported detention of Swapo members in the so-called dungeons at Lubango in Angola.

“Swapo must tell us about the over 6 000 innocent Namibians they killed in the dungeons of Lubango that they have not apologised for,” Venaani said.

“That’s a shameful history by all accounts,” Venaani said.

The Lubango dungeons refers to the imprisonment of Swapo members by the party at Lubango during the liberation struggle, on accusations of being South African spies.

Venaani charged that Geingob’s party is known for its present-day mismanagement in Namibia in terms of corruption and greed.

“Hospitals with rats and collapsing infrastructure, young people without jobs, selling this nation to the highest bidder, his amnesia on children being taught under trees and shacks mushrooming, that’s the sad story of Swapo,” he said.

Defending his party, Venaani said the DTA ended draconian pass laws that oppressed black people in Namibia, and it also abolished all apartheid legislation in July 1979.

“It was never anti-independence, but chose a peaceful settlement – the rest is history,” he said.

He added that politicians must become present and future oriented.

“How do we change Namibia not to fail and come tell a hogwash of history?”

A similar mudslinging argument erupted in parliament when a discussion on national reconciliation was held in the National Assembly in June 2020. The discussion followed a motion on the policy of national reconciliation tabled by Swanu president Tangeni Iiyambo, and led to the early suspension of sessions in the National Assembly.

RECONCILIATION

Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah said political parties talk about the past when they don’t have anything to offer for the present and future.

“What we are seeing is demagoguery and populist politics rather than substance,” he said.

He added that he has no hope in national reconciliation as long as the current leadership is in control.

“Because of Swapo’s history of atrocities in exile, there is no way the party will be open to any further reconciliation talks,” he said.

GEINGOB ON SWAPO

Geingob also told Swapo supporters on Saturday that unnecessary divisions and uncontrolled fights for positions are a threat to the party’s existence.

“Therefore, we must firmly uphold the values of comradeship in the Swapo party and we must constantly improve on leadership capacity at local authority levels in order to provide effective services to Namibians,” he said.

He said their primary concern should be the needs of the Namibian people and not the fight for positions.

“As patriots and cadres of Swapo, we should be selfless. The only path for us to continue enjoying the trust of the Namibian people is when we deliver services to our people,” he said.