The Swapo Party Women’s Council has proposed that its district coordinators receive monthly remuneration, saying the incentive would strengthen its local structures and support women leading campaigns across the country.
Swapo Party Women’s Council secretary Fransina Kahungu said this at a press conference held in Windhoek on yesterday. The proposal is among recommendations to be considered by the council’s central committee meeting scheduled for Katima Mulilo from 9 to 11 December.
Kahungu said district coordinators currently do not receive regular financial support, apart from occasional tokens of appreciation.
“There is no monthly remuneration for the district coordinators. They are not receiving anything except for now and then a once-off token of appreciation,” she says.
She said the proposal would be submitted to Swapo for consideration.
Kahungu said the coordinators play an important role in ensuring that the women’s council’s programmes and activities are implemented at local level.
The women’s council will hold its ninth congress in December, where new leadership will be elected and resolutions aimed at strengthening the organisation adopted.
Kahungu said regional coordinators have been directed to ensure that district conferences are concluded and delegates elected ahead of the congress.
She said districts that have already held conferences but failed to elect delegates would be required to arrange extraordinary conferences to complete the process.
The council’s central committee has also identified several short, medium and long-term plans, including establishing a monitoring unit to track the implementation of congress resolutions, completing an electronic membership database, recruiting young women and improving financial sustainability.
Kahungu said the proposed monitoring unit would ensure that resolutions adopted at congress level are implemented.
“The congress is the highest decision-making body. The resolutions must be implemented because that is the will of the delegates from all 14 regions,” she said.
Former Swapo Party Women’s Council secretary Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana says members should remain guided by the organisation’s founding documents as preparations for the congress take shape.
“The Swapo Party Women’s Council always holds its congress a year before the congress of the party. The women’s council congress sets the tone,” she says.
Iivula-Ithana urges members to avoid being influenced by popular opinion and instead follow the Swapo constitution, that of the women’s council and organisational rules.
