Hardap SPYL sees racists under beds

A PRESS statement issued by the Hardap Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) branch, condemning an alleged ‘politically motivated’ campaign being waged against Hardap Governor Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, has widened rifts among the party’s regional executive leaders.

At a press conference held on December 18 at Gochas, Mariental Rural SPYL District Secretary Simon Christy Dukeleni accused Republikein newspaper’s senior reporter Jan Poolman and former Hardap Chief Regional Officer James Sankwasa of being the masterminds behind the alleged campaign of negative publicity in the Afrikaans newspaper.
However, some of the regional executive leaders, including Hardap Regional SPYL Chairman Titus Huisemab and Hardap Swapo Party Regional Co-ordinator Nico Mugenga, objected to the media statement.
Huisemab and Mugenga claimed Dukeleni had bypassed party channels because he denied the regional executive the opportunity to scrutinise the statement before releasing it, a party insider told The Namibian.
According to a source, disciplinary action against Dukeleni is on the cards for allegedly violating party procedures.
At the press conference Dukeleni further alleged that Poolman was behind a ‘smear campaign’ aimed at swaying votes in favour of former Governor Pieter Boltman to unseat Hanse-Himarwa, who Dukeleni called ‘the iron woman’.
He added that Poolman had refused to expose Boltman for alleged corrupt practices contained in the Grant Namibia audit report.
It is alleged that Boltman committed the corrupt practices during his tenure as Governor.
‘My young comrades, this poor white reporter [Poolman] has flatly refused to put the dirty linen of his white Governor in the public domain and shamelessly denied our firm request to tell the public the true facts of the Grant Namibia audit report,’ Dukeleni said.
Dukeleni also claimed that Sankwasa had drained the Council’s subsistence and travel allowance budget.
According to Dukeleni, Sankwasa pocketed S&T allowances of N$44 000 within just four months when he returned to office after having been on suspension for almost two years.
Sankawa was suspended, together with the Council’s Chief Control Officer Leonard Stephanus, after Council property was found at a farm near Mariental belonging to Stephanus.
The items were allegedly stored there without Council approval.
Dukeleni also came out firing against the Hardap Police Regional Commander, Chief Inspector Kobus Meyer, accusing him of alleged racial appointments of officers in the Police Reserves Unit at Aranos.
‘Be informed that we will not condone your racial appointment as you are trying to camouflage law enforcement with white faces only,’ he warned.
Among the region’s senior Swapo members who attended the press conference were Aranos Village Council Chairman Jan Jarson, a former personal assistant to Hanse-Himarwa, John Johannes Herero, and current PA Stephanus Owambo.
Owambo booked out a government vehicle to attend the press conference, The Namibian was reliably informed.
The Hardap Council Transport Officer, Leanard Stephanus, yesterday said Owambo’s trip to Gochas was approved.
In his application for vehicle authorisation, Owambo said he was going to represent Hanse-Himarwa at the press conference, said Stephanus.