Swapo accused of using Caprivi flood aid as a campaign tool

NAMIBIA’S human rights watch body has accused Swapo of capitalising on the suffering of the flood-hit people of the Caprivi Region to win votes for the ruling party in the upcoming elections.

Visiting Lusese village, some 70 kilometres north-east of Katima Mulilo, on Saturday, Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab said: “Keep trust in your Government, and when the time to vote comes, vote for Swapo. Our President is a strong and caring leader.But there are things which even our strong president cannot stop, things like drought and floods.”Executive Director of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), Phil ya Nangoloh, said yesterday that other senior Swapo leaders had made similar statements over the past week.The NSHR head claimed Gurirab’s remarks at the weekend were “pre-polling irregularities, vote buying, influence peddling and smear tactics as well as misuse of public funds”.Ya Nangoloh said Gurirab and the Government had a moral or ethical duty to treat all residents fairly irrespective of their political affiliation.”After making such unethical and morally and politically corrupt pronouncements, did Prime Minister Gurirab’s conscience serve him well misusing public funds to literally urge flood victims to for vote for his party while travelling at the expense of everybody, including members of the opposition political parties or non-partisan organisations? Therefore one wonders whether the real motive for his flying to Caprivi was to assist such victims or just to campaign for his party,” he said.Ya Nangoloh also charged that the Government has rushed to the rescue of Lusese village because it was a Swapo stronghold, while opposition supporters from the Mafwe tribe in the region had complained since 1992 about a lack of water but to no avail.Mafwe villages, such as Masokotwane, Lusu, Kanono, Chinchimane, Linyanti and Kapani, to mention just a few, had been without water for years, he said.Our President is a strong and caring leader.But there are things which even our strong president cannot stop, things like drought and floods.”Executive Director of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), Phil ya Nangoloh, said yesterday that other senior Swapo leaders had made similar statements over the past week.The NSHR head claimed Gurirab’s remarks at the weekend were “pre-polling irregularities, vote buying, influence peddling and smear tactics as well as misuse of public funds”.Ya Nangoloh said Gurirab and the Government had a moral or ethical duty to treat all residents fairly irrespective of their political affiliation.”After making such unethical and morally and politically corrupt pronouncements, did Prime Minister Gurirab’s conscience serve him well misusing public funds to literally urge flood victims to for vote for his party while travelling at the expense of everybody, including members of the opposition political parties or non-partisan organisations? Therefore one wonders whether the real motive for his flying to Caprivi was to assist such victims or just to campaign for his party,” he said.Ya Nangoloh also charged that the Government has rushed to the rescue of Lusese village because it was a Swapo stronghold, while opposition supporters from the Mafwe tribe in the region had complained since 1992 about a lack of water but to no avail.Mafwe villages, such as Masokotwane, Lusu, Kanono, Chinchimane, Linyanti and Kapani, to mention just a few, had been without water for years, he said.