Herunga defends Swapo amid criticism of 65-year celebration

Swapo deputy secretary general Uahekua Herunga says despite challenges in the housing, healthcare and education sectors, there are a lot of things the party has achieved.

This comes as the party celebrates its 65th anniversary.

Speaking to Desert FM yesterday, Herunga said there is no country that is completely developed.

“We will continue to develop this country. We will continue to face challenges that are facing our people in this country, fiercely so, as per the statement of the president, that the situation will not be as usual, and we have to hit the ground running. But while doing that, we have to celebrate,” he said. Herunga said the existence of Swapo needs to be celebrated because for the first 30 years, it was fighting for the liberation of Namibia for citizens to be able to lead the country as a free nation.

Herunga stated that despite challenges in various spheres of life, Namibia is among the leading nations in terms of development in Africa.

He said one of the ways to gain back the trust of the supporters they have lost over the last two elections lies in the implementation of the Swapo election manifesto and utilising the resources of the country as per the budget allocation. When asked if former Swapo members and the late presidents would be proud of how Swapo is doing, Herunga said; “Of course they will be proud.”

He added that the ‘elders of the party’ still advise members on where their shortcomings are and where they could do better.

“As leaders of the party, we are not saying we are perfect.

We are not saying that everything we have done is 100% right. That’s why I’m saying they are correcting us inasmuch as we correct ourselves because we will be in agreement in terms of correcting some mistakes here and there,” Herunga said.

Political analyst Ben Mulongeni says Swapo brought the nation political independence and political freedom but adds that this freedom requires drastic and radical transformation in terms of economic emancipation which, he says, has not been achieved.

He believes Namibia is free but not independent.

“Swapo is the liberation movement that changed the history of Namibia. That should not be forgotten. . . Namibia is free but not independent and I’m saying it without fear or favour,” he says. According to Mulongeni, the government has failed to transform the economy from the hands of foreigners into national hands.

“We did not succeed in transferring the means of production, the economy, to our hands, into the hands of many Namibians. What we have done a little bit is only in fishing, where there are some factories that are home-based, and fish are processed here,” Mulongeni adds.

He says Namibia has failed in making the mining sector its own because it did not take action to negotiate in the interest of the country, adding that Namibia only owns up to 10% in the industry. He says hospitals are dilapidated and highlights the worsening state of service delivery, as well as the fight for land in the country.

“The land is not back to the owner which it was stolen from. So, those are the things that everybody in Namibia needs to see,” Mulongeni says.

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