Mudge crusades at coast

IT’s a damp, windy Saturday morning when the leader of the Republican Party Henk Mudge hits the campaign trail at Swakopmund.

Ever the optimist, Mudge and the small group who comprise his campaign team do not let the weather bother them. They take to the streets of Swakopmund early in a bakkie adorned with posters of Mudge, flags and a loudspeaker system.As he pulls up alongside supporters, they give him the RP’s”thumbs-up” sign.Some women rush up to the car to meet Mudge’s main foot soldiers Gabriel Uirab and Pastor Frederick Naruseb, who introduce “ons President”.The RP’s candidate for Erongo, Edna Botha, is equally as enthusiastic about the campaign trail having wound its way to the coast.Botha takes Mudge to inspect the tent set up in Tamariskia and to discuss preparations for the afternoon rally.With the arrangements being taken care of, Mudge decides it’s time to get out and meet the people.Planned visits to the old age homes do not materialise and, on Botha’s recommendation, he starts at a soup kitchen at the town’s newest informal settlement area, the DRC.Before getting out of the car, he dons his scarf in the party colours and grabs a handful of brochures from a pile stacked between the front seats of his car.It is clear that RP supporters in the area have been doing their work.On the lamp poles in the DRC, the RP’s posters are about the only ones to be seen.A few of Swapo Presidential Candidate Hifikepunye Pohamba are scattered here and there, and on the doors of some shacks.Jaime Kangungu, the caretaker of the DRC community centre, is first to tell Mudge about their work and the countless problems they encounter.Rather than make party promises, Mudge lets them tell him about themselves.When they are done, he asks whether they know about the RP, and hands them a brochure in the language of their choice and encourages them to read about the RP.But most of them tell him they already know about the party.In a seemingly unusual place to campaign for voters, a vibrant community activist Gisela Haslund takes Mudge to the nearby rubbish dump.With smoke billowing from all corners, stray dogs scurrying about and people swarming around trucks off-loading garbage, the about 30 people Mudge approaches don’t pay much attention to him.Mudge looks on, while Haslund walks among the piles of dirt speaking in Oshiwambo and Damara/Nama, handing out brochures and intermittently pointing towards Mudge.”Talk to him about anything you want,” she encourages them, but they are too busy scrounging among the rubbish – their only chance of survival they tell him.”Does this look like a liberated country?” Mudge asks The Namibian.”My heart bleeds when I see people like this.People are disillusioned,” he says.Mudge says the opposition parties have failed to increase their support because, according to him, they have ignored the people on the ground.The ruling party, he charges, is only interested in self-enrichment.”I tell you if we had more finances we could turn this country upside down.”A man scratching among the refuse tells Mudge that he has been jobless for years.”It all boils down to jobs,” Mudge says, “the dignity of people has been undermined [because of a lack thereof].We can only solve Namibia’s problems through jobs.”Returning to the DRC, Mudge walks between the cardboard and zinc houses to meet pensioners.He is excited to see that one of them already has an RP brochure, propped up between the mugs and kettle on a tray inside a small shack.A fireman polishes his boots outside his house while Mudge makes small talk with him and encourages him to read about the party.The fireman appears nonplussed.His wife appears in the doorway in a gown and promises to come to the rally in the afternoon.The Namibian does not see her there later in the day.Given the odds for what is a minority party, Mudge remains undeterred.”Just give us five years,” he says.”We’ll make a difference, we’ll see to that.”The son of veteran politician Dirk Mudge, Henk Mudge says he is carrying on the torch passed down by his father.He says he is driven by the need for change.”I don’t need to be the president of a party.I don’t want to go to parliament.I want to change the country,” Mudge maintains.They take to the streets of Swakopmund early in a bakkie adorned with posters of Mudge, flags and a loudspeaker system.As he pulls up alongside supporters, they give him the RP’s”thumbs-up” sign.Some women rush up to the car to meet Mudge’s main foot soldiers Gabriel Uirab and Pastor Frederick Naruseb, who introduce “ons President”.The RP’s candidate for Erongo, Edna Botha, is equally as enthusiastic about the campaign trail having wound its way to the coast.Botha takes Mudge to inspect the tent set up in Tamariskia and to discuss preparations for the afternoon rally.With the arrangements being taken care of, Mudge decides it’s time to get out and meet the people.Planned visits to the old age homes do not materialise and, on Botha’s recommendation, he starts at a soup kitchen at the town’s newest informal settlement area, the DRC.Before getting out of the car, he dons his scarf in the party colours and grabs a handful of brochures from a pile stacked between the front seats of his car.It is clear that RP supporters in the area have been doing their work.On the lamp poles in the DRC, the RP’s posters are about the only ones to be seen.A few of Swapo Presidential Candidate Hifikepunye Pohamba are scattered here and there, and on the doors of some shacks.Jaime Kangungu, the caretaker of the DRC community centre, is first to tell Mudge about their work and the countless problems they encounter.Rather than make party promises, Mudge lets them tell him about themselves.When they are done, he asks whether they know about the RP, and hands them a brochure in the language of their choice and encourages them to read about the RP.But most of them tell him they already know about the party.In a seemingly unusual place to campaign for voters, a vibrant community activist Gisela Haslund takes Mudge to the nearby rubbish dump.With smoke billowing from all corners, stray dogs scurrying about and people swarming around trucks off-loading garbage, the about 30 people Mudge approaches don’t pay much attention to him.Mudge looks on, while Haslund walks among the piles of dirt speaking in Oshiwambo and Damara/Nama, handing out brochures and intermittently pointing towards Mudge.”Talk to him about anything you want,” she encourages them, but they are too busy scrounging among the rubbish – their only chance of survival they tell him.”Does this look like a liberated country?” Mudge asks The Namibian.”My heart bleeds when I see people like this.People are disillusioned,” he says.Mudge says the opposition parties have failed to increase their support because, according to him, they have ignored the people on the ground.The ruling party, he charges, is only interested in self-enrichment.”I tell you if we had more finances we could turn this country upside down.”A man scratching among the refuse tells Mudge that he has been jobless for years.”It all boils down to jobs,” Mudge says, “the dignity of people has been undermined [because of a lack thereof].We can only solve Namibia’s problems through jobs.”Returning to the DRC, Mudge walks between the cardboard and zinc houses to meet pensioners.He is excited to see that one of them already has an RP brochure, propped up between the mugs and kettle on a tray inside a small shack.A fireman polishes his boots outside his house while Mudge makes small talk with him and encourages him to read about the party.The fireman appears nonplussed.His wife appears in the doorway in a gown and promises to come to the rally in the afternoon.The Namibian does not see her there later in the day.Given the odds for what is a minority party, Mudge remains undeterred.”Just give us five years,” he says.”We’ll make a difference, we’ll see to that.”The son of veteran politician Dirk Mudge, Henk Mudge says he is carrying on the torch passed down by his father.He says he is driven by the need for change.”I don’t need to be the president of a party.I don’t want to go to parliament.I want to change the country,” Mudge maintains.