Mistrust engulfs Swapo

WITH little less than a week to go to the Swapo Party congress, fear and uncertainty are mounting in the ranks of the ruling party.

Yesterday, two senior Swapo officials hit out at their reported suspensions. “Well-known thugs” were at the centre of a plot to oust several key Swapo members from the party through smear campaigns and character assassinations, one of the targets of a party purge, the Swapo Regional Councillor at Tsumeb, Libius Thobias, said.At the same time, the Mayor of Oshakati, Katrina Shimbulu, has angrily denied that she is a member or a sympathiser of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), or that she has been removed from the list of Swapo members who are going to the party’s congress next week.Thobias, told The Namibian that there was an orchestrated campaign by some “known thugs” at Tsumeb to discredit his name.They had already managed to get him withdrawn from attending next week’s congress.He said the campaign started in 2004 when he became a regional councillor.”My party Swapo should really look at these people that are trying to be suspicious of others.Who says they are themselves loyal? They are just bringing confusion in the party,” Thobias said.Thobias said claims that he had joined the new Rally for Democracy and Progress or was sympathetic to them were “blatant lies”.”It is a campaign to get rid of certain individuals in the party.My name was removed by a certain group of thugs.Not by Swapo.They are damaging the party,” he said.REMOVAL SQUAD The Swapo regional co-ordinator for Oshikoto, Armas Amukwiyu, said earlier this week that the names of Thobias and Rebekka Kalola were both removed from the list of congress delegates because of their links with the RDP.Amukwiyu told the media that meetings were held at Tsumeb and nearby farms to brainstorm the formation of RDP and that some Swapo members attended those meetings.Thobias said he had never attended a political rally or meeting of any other party in his life.He wrote to the Swapo leadership in Windhoek to express his discontent at the way the issue was handled.”These things are done by people who have questionable motives.Who is in their hearts to see and know whether they are loyal to the party?” he fumed.Thobias had not received a response from the party’s head office by yesterday and it seemed certain that he and many others who had been withdrawn as delegates to the congress would not make it to Windhoek.Oshakati Mayor Shimbulu, who was reported to have been removed from the Swapo congress list, said: “I have nothing to do with RDP.Nobody even approached me to be a member of and I really do not know where these rumourmongers got my name, and why they have to spread such serious rumours.”She added: “If RDP has my name on its list, then it was done without my consent, and if it is the case, then RDP does not exist, as all those people on its list were not approached.”Earlier, a source told The Namibian that Shimbulu’s name had been scrapped from the list of congress delegates from the Oshana Region.”Up to date my name is on the list of those who are going to the congress.Where did that source get that information that I am not going to the congress? I want your source to tell you the truth and give you a letter of that I am no more going to the Congress,” Shimbulu said.She emphasised that she had not received any letter telling her that her name had been removed from the list.”I don’t know anything about my name being removed from the list.Even my District Co-ordinator [Erastus Uutoni] has not told me about that, and I am still going to the congress.””I am also angry with you, The Namibian, for placing my photo on the front page with that story that I have been removed from the list because I am a member of the RDP.I am not and I will never in my life be a member of it.”I am a Swapo person.Swapo is my only political party, and I will remain in Swapo.When I am not busy in Swapo, I will just go to my construction company and do my private work.I will not go to other parties such as RDP,” she said.The Namibian did approach Shimbulu for comment, but she said she was in a meeting and that the newspaper should approach her again later.”Well-known thugs” were at the centre of a plot to oust several key Swapo members from the party through smear campaigns and character assassinations, one of the targets of a party purge, the Swapo Regional Councillor at Tsumeb, Libius Thobias, said.At the same time, the Mayor of Oshakati, Katrina Shimbulu, has angrily denied that she is a member or a sympathiser of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), or that she has been removed from the list of Swapo members who are going to the party’s congress next week.Thobias, told The Namibian that there was an orchestrated campaign by some “known thugs” at Tsumeb to discredit his name.They had already managed to get him withdrawn from attending next week’s congress.He said the campaign started in 2004 when he became a regional councillor. “My party Swapo should really look at these people that are trying to be suspicious of others.Who says they are themselves loyal? They are just bringing confusion in the party,” Thobias said.Thobias said claims that he had joined the new Rally for Democracy and Progress or was sympathetic to them were “blatant lies”.”It is a campaign to get rid of certain individuals in the party.My name was removed by a certain group of thugs.Not by Swapo.They are damaging the party,” he said.REMOVAL SQUAD The Swapo regional co-ordinator for Oshikoto, Armas Amukwiyu, said earlier this week that the names of Thobias and Rebekka Kalola were both removed from the list of congress delegates because of their links with the RDP.Amukwiyu told the media that meetings were held at Tsumeb and nearby farms to brainstorm the formation of RDP and that some Swapo members attended those meetings.Thobias said he had never attended a political rally or meeting of any other party in his life.He wrote to the Swapo leadership in Windhoek to express his discontent at the way the issue was handled.”These things are done by people who have questionable motives.Who is in their hearts to see and know whether they are loyal to the party?” he fumed.Thobias had not received a response from the party’s head office by yesterday and it seemed certain that he and many others who had been withdrawn as delegates to the congress would not make it to Windhoek.Oshakati Mayor Shimbulu, who was reported to have been removed from the Swapo congress list, said: “I have nothing to do with RDP.Nobody even approached me to be a member of and I really do not know where these rumourmongers got my name, and why they have to spread such serious rumours.”She added: “If RDP has my name on its list, then it was done without my consent, and if it is the case, then RDP does not exist, as all those people on its list were not approached.”Earlier, a source told The Namibian that Shimbulu’s name had been scrapped from the list of congress delegates from the Oshana Region.”Up to date my name is on the list of those who are going to the congress.Where did that source get that information that I am not going to the congress? I want your source to tell you the truth and give you a letter of that I am no more going to the Congress,” Shimbulu said.She emphasised that she had not received any letter telling her that her name had been removed from the list.”I don’t know anything about my name being removed from the list.Even my District Co-ordinator [Erastus Uutoni] has not told me about that, and I am still going to the congress.””I am also angry with you, The Namibian, for placing my photo on the front page with that story that I have been removed from the list because I am a member of the RDP.I am not and I will never in my life be a member of it.”I am a Swapo person.Swapo is my only political party, and I will remain in Swapo.When I am not busy in Swapo, I will just go to my construction company and do my private work.I will not go to other parties such as RDP,” she said.The Namibian did approach Shimbulu for comment, but she said she was in a meeting and that the newspaper should approach her again later.