Swapo defends N$2,5 million Pakistani gift

SWAPO has rubbished any claims that a donation to the party worth about N$2,5 million, received from the Pakistan Oshikango Welfare Association, was out of line.

The controversial donation received by President Hifikepunye Pohamba at Oshikango almost two weeks ago included some 50 000 Swapo flags, 80 000 stickers, 5 040 T-shirts, 10 000 keyrings, 15 000 badges, 10 000 posters and 1 000 flexboards, presenting a major boost to the ruling party’s campaign in the run-up to the November elections.At a press conference on monday, Swapo Secretary for Information and Mobilisation Jerry Ekandjo labelled claims that the donation was suspect as ‘irresponsible insinuations, innuendoes, allegations and distortions’ that were ‘false and unsubstantiated’. He singled out the Rally for Democracy and Progress as the main culprit in this case, whom he accused of condemning ‘the people of goodwill and humane sense for donating and supporting in material forms the Swapo Party.’Ekandjo said that opposition parties questioning the donation were ‘bonding together against the Swapo Party’ with the aim of ‘kicking up dirt on a tarred surface’ that ‘may create an impression as if the Swapo Party has committed a crime’.Opposition parties that condemned the donation did so on the premise that members of the foreign business community should not align themselves with any particular party.Leader of the All People’s Party (APP), Ignatius Shixwameni, at the time said: ‘The so-called donations by the Pakistani business community in Eenhana to the Swapo Party are a direct interference in the internal political activities of our peaceful country that deserves condemnation from all corners of the country.’ RDP spokesperson Jeremia Nambinga described the donation as an attempt to bribe the ruling party. ‘If they have money to give Swapo, then they must give money to all political parties’ in order to level the playing field for all parties to freely campaign and participate in the upcoming elections, he said.Ekandjo, however, argued that ‘the donation of any person is predicated on the democratic right of the person’, and said it was ‘strange’ that opposition parties ‘seem to want to compel and force individual companies and persons to donate their monies and materials to all political parties’.Quashing any inferences that the donation would compromise the party in any way, Ekandjo also said that the companies made the donation ‘without any strings attached’.’When the CoD started, German permanent residents were the ones to contribute. If German permanent residence holders donate to the CoD, and Pakistani permanent residents donate to Swapo, is there a difference?’ he questioned.He added that prior to Independence, the Swapo party had received donations worth billions of dollars, but that these donations had not influenced the party’s policies.’We are our own masters,’ he said.Stating that the party had been conducting its activities in compliance with the Electoral Act of 1992, Ekandjo said: ‘Nowhere in the Act does it state that a registered Namibian company cannot advance a donation to any political party.’He went on to say that all 11 Pakistani-owned companies that formed part of the Pakistan Oshikango Welfare Association were Namibian registered, and that their Pakistani owners were all permanent residents. In this line, he added that the party would continue to accept donations from individual and business establishments. ‘It has been the case in the past and will continue as such,’ Ekandjo said.’If any political party contravenes the Act and facts are established by the Electoral Commission in this respect, the Directorate of the Election in Namibia may exercise its powers to cancel the registration of such a political party as a political party,’ he added.nangula@namibian.com.na