Swapo boots two councillors

THE Mayor of Helao Nafidi in the Ohangwena Region, Medusalem Handjaba, and Councillor Hilimemwene Hauliondjaba were expelled from Swapo and dismissed from the Town Council on January 23.

This was confirmed to The Namibian by the Swapo co-ordinator in Ohangwena, Nestor Shuukwanyama. He said the two councillors received their first letters of expulsion from Swapo’s Ohangwena Regional Executive Committee on November 20 last year.The letters said the reason for their expulsion was that their names appeared on a list of members of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) that the new party had submitted to the Electoral Commission When they received the letters, the two councillors wrote to Shuukwanyama on November 24 in which they disputed their expulsion.They argued that the committee and Shuukwanyama had not followed the correct Swapo constitutional procedures in their expulsion.They said the allegation that their names appeared on the RDP party list was unfounded and demanded that the committee prove it.They further said that only the Swapo Politburo had the authority to expel a party member for serious misconduct, and there should have been a fair and public hearing.Shuukwanyama yesterday confirmed that he had received the letters from Handjaba and Hauliondjaba and forwarded it to the Swapo head office in Windhoek.”They [head office] asked me to call in the two councillors and speak to them.I called them in, even wrote letters to them to come and see me but they never did that,” Shuukwanyama told The Namibian.He said because the two councillors had not responded, the Regional Executive Committee decided on January 23 to confirm their expulsion from the party and the Helao Nafidi Town Council.Handjaba and Hauliondjaba both denied that Shuukwanyama had called them in to his office.They told The Namibian that they were still waiting for a response to their letter from Shuukwanyama and the Regional Executive Committee.He said the two councillors received their first letters of expulsion from Swapo’s Ohangwena Regional Executive Committee on November 20 last year.The letters said the reason for their expulsion was that their names appeared on a list of members of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) that the new party had submitted to the Electoral Commission When they received the letters, the two councillors wrote to Shuukwanyama on November 24 in which they disputed their expulsion.They argued that the committee and Shuukwanyama had not followed the correct Swapo constitutional procedures in their expulsion.They said the allegation that their names appeared on the RDP party list was unfounded and demanded that the committee prove it.They further said that only the Swapo Politburo had the authority to expel a party member for serious misconduct, and there should have been a fair and public hearing.Shuukwanyama yesterday confirmed that he had received the letters from Handjaba and Hauliondjaba and forwarded it to the Swapo head office in Windhoek.”They [head office] asked me to call in the two councillors and speak to them.I called them in, even wrote letters to them to come and see me but they never did that,” Shuukwanyama told The Namibian.He said because the two councillors had not responded, the Regional Executive Committee decided on January 23 to confirm their expulsion from the party and the Helao Nafidi Town Council.Handjaba and Hauliondjaba both denied that Shuukwanyama had called them in to his office.They told The Namibian that they were still waiting for a response to their letter from Shuukwanyama and the Regional Executive Committee.