Swapo facing fractious nomination process

THE ruling Swapo Party is yet to decide when to hold primary elections to choose its candidates for the November regional council polls, according to the party’s top administrator.

Secretary General Ngarikutuke Tjiriange suggested yesterday that the Swapo electoral preparatory committee was currently meeting to set the date for the party’s countrywide preliminaries. “This committee met briefly yesterday [Tuesday] but nothing came of that as yet… so up to now there is no certainty as to when the primaries will start,” Tjiriange told The Namibian.The Secretary General’s assertion came in the wake of recent reports that the ruling party was set to resume simultaneous primaries in all regions next week.The primary elections are expected to place unity among the party’s rank and file under severe strain after the fiasco that followed the local authorities elections in May and the party’s extraordinary congress the same month.After the recent local council polls, Swapo had to swap its elected councillors in some towns after apparently discovering that the nomination procedures for the candidates had often been incorrect.In January, Swapo was also forced to abandon its primary elections in the Omaheke Region after rival party supporters clashed during acrimonious campaigns by aspirants.Fear and discontent has been spreading since President Sam Nujoma unceremoniously sacked former Foreign Minister Hidipo Hamutenya and his deputy Kaire Mbuende for allegedly meddling in the ill-fated primaries in Omaheke.Hamutenya, who was fired on the eve of the extraordinary congress called to choose Swapo’s presidential candidate, had been regarded as a serious contender against Nujoma’s preferred successor Hifikepunye Pohamba – who eventually won the race.Since the May congress, insiders within the ruling party complain about the punitive measures aimed at those suspected of being Hamutenya supporters.The aborted primary elections in Omaheke produced a tough fight at Gobabis where regional Governor Laura McLeod and Ambrosius Kandjii, national co-ordinator of the Namibia Amateur Boxing Federation, were slated to slug it out.Kandjii, who is also a member of the Swapo Party Youth League’s central committee and national executive, was suspended over the weekend – together with SPYL Regional Secretary Salomo Hepundjua – for allegedly breaching the organisation’s code of conduct.Many critics believe that the suspensions were timed to scupper Kandjii’s chances of beating Governor McLeod in the impeding Swapo internal elections.Both Kandjii and Hepundjua are allegedly known sympathisers of the axed former Foreign Minister Hamutenya.Some Swapo members who called The Namibian from the Omaheke Region threatened to boycott the upcoming elections if the party attempted to impose candidates on them.”They must remember that these people are going to lead us here in Omaheke, therefore we will not allow candidates to be imposed on us,” one male caller said anonymously.”This committee met briefly yesterday [Tuesday] but nothing came of that as yet… so up to now there is no certainty as to when the primaries will start,” Tjiriange told The Namibian.The Secretary General’s assertion came in the wake of recent reports that the ruling party was set to resume simultaneous primaries in all regions next week.The primary elections are expected to place unity among the party’s rank and file under severe strain after the fiasco that followed the local authorities elections in May and the party’s extraordinary congress the same month.After the recent local council polls, Swapo had to swap its elected councillors in some towns after apparently discovering that the nomination procedures for the candidates had often been incorrect.In January, Swapo was also forced to abandon its primary elections in the Omaheke Region after rival party supporters clashed during acrimonious campaigns by aspirants.Fear and discontent has been spreading since President Sam Nujoma unceremoniously sacked former Foreign Minister Hidipo Hamutenya and his deputy Kaire Mbuende for allegedly meddling in the ill-fated primaries in Omaheke.Hamutenya, who was fired on the eve of the extraordinary congress called to choose Swapo’s presidential candidate, had been regarded as a serious contender against Nujoma’s preferred successor Hifikepunye Pohamba – who eventually won the race.Since the May congress, insiders within the ruling party complain about the punitive measures aimed at those suspected of being Hamutenya supporters.The aborted primary elections in Omaheke produced a tough fight at Gobabis where regional Governor Laura McLeod and Ambrosius Kandjii, national co-ordinator of the Namibia Amateur Boxing Federation, were slated to slug it out.Kandjii, who is also a member of the Swapo Party Youth League’s central committee and national executive, was suspended over the weekend – together with SPYL Regional Secretary Salomo Hepundjua – for allegedly breaching the organisation’s code of conduct.Many critics believe that the suspensions were timed to scupper Kandjii’s chances of beating Governor McLeod in the impeding Swapo internal elections.Both Kandjii and Hepundjua are allegedly known sympathisers of the axed former Foreign Minister Hamutenya.Some Swapo members who called The Namibian from the Omaheke Region threatened to boycott the upcoming elections if the party attempted to impose candidates on them.”They must remember that these people are going to lead us here in Omaheke, therefore we will not allow candidates to be imposed on us,” one male caller said anonymously.