Political Perspective

CERTAIN Swapo leaders, notably Hifikepunye Pohamba, Secretary General, Eunice Iipinge, Secretary of the Women’s Council, Ngarikutuke Tjiriange, and Deputy Minister Hadino Hishongwa, have come out in the open to condemn the ‘Nghifitikeko letters’; but others are conspicuous by their silence, and they include none lesser than President Sam Nujoma himself, as well as the usually vocal Secretary of the Swapo Youth League, Paulus Kapia.

THE ‘Nghifitikeko letters’, a series of anonymous e-mails purported to be sent by a certain Ananias Nghititikeko, are bent on discrediting various prominent Swapo leaders and members and have been circulated to all and sundry, and, in the process, have driven ever deeper wedges into an already divided Swapo. The prime target of the campaign has been ousted Foreign Affairs Minister and former Swapo presidential hopeful Hidipo Hamutenya and those who are said to be his allies, including ‘white imperialists’ and some black empowerment initiatives.The campaign has striking similarities to the frequent diatribes launched by the SYL Secretary and friends, who have at various times threatened to release names of comrades who aren’t! Iipinge addressed a press conference this week where she was right about some things; wrong about others.Her defence of former Swapo presidential hopeful Hidipo Hamutenya was quite admirable, given the otherwise resounding silence from party ranks over the latter’s dismissal on rather spurious charges of, among others, ‘unparty activities’ and even allegations of gun-running.And this on the eve of the extraordinary congress that was to vote for the candidate of their choice.Despite no publicly disseminated evidence to support these claims, Hamutenya became a virtual pariah overnight, shunned by close friends and allies from the struggle over decades.An attempt by Swapo’s Secretary General to try to patch things up by a lukewarm show of unity at which all the Swapo presidential candidates were present, didn’t have the desired result, and the anti-Hamutenya campaign has persisted, spreading suspicion and further dissent.But Iipinge was wrong in saying the e-mail campaigner/s are not from Party ranks.The person/s clearly are, for they are privy to information that is not widely available and the campaign simply cannot be blamed on opposition parties or ‘imperialists’ for that matter.It is something clearly emanating from the ranks of Swapo itself, and one cannot help attribute this to the fact that the President himself has failed to condemn the campaign or even address the issue by calling for the culprits to be rooted out.Neither, of course, has the SYL Secretary.The ‘writer/s’ themselves are lying low at present, which implies something is happening somewhere to tell them to put a lid on things, at least for the time being.Hopefully there is cognizance by the masterminds that the campaign, whatever its original aim or intention, was only serving to further undermine the ruling party and the unity forged by ‘bonds of blood’ as Iipinge referred to… But Swapo’s media are not addressing the issue of the campaign, perhaps feeling its best left alone.Namibia Today, normally quick to uncover all sorts of sinister plots and agendas, has completely ignored the issue; and the Swapo Youth League web site has likewise followed suit with silence on the matter.Even they know they can’t foist this one on the luckless CoD! And if people find it hard to credit the e-mail campaign to a Swapo source, then they have only to scrutinise a recent self-described ‘hard-hitting’ press conference by the SYL Secretary and other writings on their site, with the contents of the e-mail.Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the similarities.Anyhow, we’re waiting to see whether Swapo, if at all concerned about these goings-on and the deepening rifts as a result of the campaign, are going to thoroughly investigate and finally establish the identity of the culprits.The prime target of the campaign has been ousted Foreign Affairs Minister and former Swapo presidential hopeful Hidipo Hamutenya and those who are said to be his allies, including ‘white imperialists’ and some black empowerment initiatives.The campaign has striking similarities to the frequent diatribes launched by the SYL Secretary and friends, who have at various times threatened to release names of comrades who aren’t! Iipinge addressed a press conference this week where she was right about some things; wrong about others.Her defence of former Swapo presidential hopeful Hidipo Hamutenya was quite admirable, given the otherwise resounding silence from party ranks over the latter’s dismissal on rather spurious charges of, among others, ‘unparty activities’ and even allegations of gun-running.And this on the eve of the extraordinary congress that was to vote for the candidate of their choice.Despite no publicly disseminated evidence to support these claims, Hamutenya became a virtual pariah overnight, shunned by close friends and allies from the struggle over decades.An attempt by Swapo’s Secretary General to try to patch things up by a lukewarm show of unity at which all the Swapo presidential candidates were present, didn’t have the desired result, and the anti-Hamutenya campaign has persisted, spreading suspicion and further dissent.But Iipinge was wrong in saying the e-mail campaigner/s are not from Party ranks.The person/s clearly are, for they are privy to information that is not widely available and the campaign simply cannot be blamed on opposition parties or ‘imperialists’ for that matter.It is something clearly emanating from the ranks of Swapo itself, and one cannot help attribute this to the fact that the President himself has failed to condemn the campaign or even address the issue by calling for the culprits to be rooted out.Neither, of course, has the SYL Secretary.The ‘writer/s’ themselves are lying low at present, which implies something is happening somewhere to tell them to put a lid on things, at least for the time being.Hopefully there is cognizance by the masterminds that the campaign, whatever its original aim or intention, was only serving to further undermine the ruling party and the unity forged by ‘bonds of blood’ as Iipinge referred to… But Swapo’s media are not addressing the issue of the campaign, perhaps feeling its best left alone.Namibia Today, normally quick to uncover all sorts of sinister plots and agendas, has completely ignored the issue; and the Swapo Youth League web site has likewise followed suit with silence on the matter.Even they know they can’t foist this one on the luckless CoD! And if people find it hard to credit the e-mail campaign to a Swapo source, then they have only to scrutinise a recent self-described ‘hard-hitting’ press conference by the SYL Secretary and other writings on their site, with the contents of the e-mail.Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the similarities.Anyhow, we’re waiting to see whether Swapo, if at all concerned about these goings-on and the deepening rifts as a result of the campaign, are going to thoroughly investigate and finally establish the identity of the culprits.