Nujoma non-committal on influence – Mathieu

AMERICAN diplomats posted abroad engage with a broad spectrum of people, governments and civil society as part of their work, is the explanation the US embassy in Windhoek gave in the wake of the latest batch of cables released by Wikileaks.

The public affairs officer at the US embassy in Windhoek, Anthony Deaton, wrote in an e-mail response to The Namibian that information obtained through such interaction ‘helps provide insight into the activities within a country and they inform our [US government] policies and actions’.’Our diplomats do this and the diplomats of every other country in the world do the same thing,’ Deaton said.As part of these activities US diplomats in Namibia have engaged a number of people and organisations in the country, including former President Sam Nujoma.During a meeting held with Nujoma by former US ambassador Dennise Mathieu in February 2009, the ambassador described the former President’s comment ‘short of substance’, when prodded on his alleged continuing influence within the Swapo Party and in Namibia’s politics in general.In Mathieu’s correspondence on her meeting with Nujoma to the US Secretary of State in Washington that was leaked to Wikileaks, she remarked that it is possible that Nujoma ‘purposefully affects this posture with visitors, because he technically has no official title in the party or Government’. ‘It is also possible that Nujoma is given credit for influencing situations, such as ostracising and driving out members of Swapo who do not toe the party line, for which the credit belongs to others,’ said Mathieu. Describing Nujoma, who was 79 years old then, as ‘physically and mentally agile’ as he did during her visit to him in December 2007, Mathieu also commented: ‘It is worth noting that Nujoma appeared to be enthusiastic about future meetings’ with her. Nujoma did not accept any invitations from the embassy in 2008. But during their meetings, Nujoma commented that Namibia’s policy on free expression was ‘certainly correct’, but added that it ‘must be done in a constructive way that does not cause problems for Namibians’. Mathieu prodded Nujoma on Namibia’s state of democracy in view of the upcoming elections that year. This was also in the context of an article published in The Namibian in February 2009 in which Swapo Party Elders Council (SPEC) asked the newspaper to stop publishing SMSes that criticise President Hifikepunye Pohamba or Nujoma. SPEC said the SMSes were promoting ‘hatred and public discontent, whose consequences will be too ghastly to contemplate’. Mathieu reported that Nujoma said tolerance was the key to Namibia’s new democracy. President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) Hidipo Hamutenya yesterday said the party had met with Mathieu at her behest in 2009. He said she made a courtesy call at the party’s office, when he and secretary general Jesaya Nyamu voiced concern that the Namibian Government was sliding towards autocracy under the continued influence of Nujoma. ‘This is the general opinion of people knowledgeable of what is happening in the country,’ said Hamutenya yesterday. He said reports suggesting that these discussions with Mathieu were an exposé were ‘rubbish’, and added: ‘It is as if we were revealing State secrets. We are not in Cabinet where there are secrets.’Congress of Democrats president Ben Ulenga could not be contacted for comment as he is out of the country. Mathieu reported that the RDP and CoD had complained of Swapo efforts to manipulate elections and claimed that large divisions existed within Swapo over issues of tolerating viable opposition parties and the Zimbabwe crisis. ‘In response to questions on the Swapo Youth League’s inflammatory public statements, the opposition leaders described the organisation as trying to say what Nujoma wants to hear to promote their own self-interests,’ wrote Mathieu.

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