Swapo in flat spin: Kaura

NEXT year’s national elections will change the political landscape in Namibia, as the overwhelming majority of the ruling Swapo party will be broken and a coalition government will then be a possibility in 2010, an opposition leader said on Saturday.

“There is a serious split within the ruling liberation movements in southern Africa, as the examples of Zimbabwe and South Africa have shown,” said Katuutire Kaura, president of the DTA. Addressing the DTA executive committee meeting, he said Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and his Zanu- PF party were forced to share power with their archrival, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).In South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki recently was forced by his own ANC party to resign.”In Namibia, the ruling Swapo party is in a flat spin, the new Information Minister Joel Kaapanda dismissed the Board Chairman of the national broadcaster NBC on September 22, but the ministerial memo on the dismissal only reached Cabinet a day later (and was withdrawn),” Kaura said.The head of the NBC, Director General Bob Kandetu, could get the chop any moment, he said.”On Thursday last Minister Joel Kaapanda dismissed the Board Chairman of the national broadcaster NBC on September 22, but the ministerial memo on the dismissal only reached Cabinet a day later (and was withdrawn),” Kaura said.The head of the NBC, Director General Bob Kandetu, could get the chop any moment, he said.”On Thursday lastSwapo majority, Kaura urged.”If we all work hard, Namibia will have a coalition government in 2010.”The DTA would not allow the ballot papers for future elections to be printed again by Nam- Print, a company owned by Swapo, Kaura said.He alleged that election rigging in the 1999 and 2004 elections started at the printers already.”However, some leaders of opposition parties are sell-outs.They were paid handsomely (by the Swapo Government) to keep quiet after a scandal erupted 2004, when ballot papers were found under the bridge between Windhoek and Okahandja after the national elections” Opposition parties took the matter to court, but it did not go further, because some opposition leaders “were paid handsomely to keep quiet” on the matter, according to the DTA president.The contract to print ballot papers should also not go to Chinese companies, Kaura said.Addressing the DTA executive committee meeting, he said Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and his Zanu- PF party were forced to share power with their archrival, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).In South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki recently was forced by his own ANC party to resign.”In Namibia, the ruling Swapo party is in a flat spin, the new Information Minister Joel Kaapanda dismissed the Board Chairman of the national broadcaster NBC on September 22, but the ministerial memo on the dismissal only reached Cabinet a day later (and was withdrawn),” Kaura said.The head of the NBC, Director General Bob Kandetu, could get the chop any moment, he said.”On Thursday last Minister Joel Kaapanda dismissed the Board Chairman of the national broadcaster NBC on September 22, but the ministerial memo on the dismissal only reached Cabinet a day later (and was withdrawn),” Kaura said.The head of the NBC, Director General Bob Kandetu, could get the chop any moment, he said.”On Thursday lastSwapo majority, Kaura urged.”If we all work hard, Namibia will have a coalition government in 2010.”The DTA would not allow the ballot papers for future elections to be printed again by Nam- Print, a company owned by Swapo, Kaura said.He alleged that election rigging in the 1999 and 2004 elections started at the printers already.”However, some leaders of opposition parties are sell-outs.They were paid handsomely (by the Swapo Government) to keep quiet after a scandal erupted 2004, when ballot papers were found under the bridge between Windhoek and Okahandja after the national elections” Opposition parties took the matter to court, but it did not go further, because some opposition leaders “were paid handsomely to keep quiet” on the matter, according to the DTA president.The contract to print ballot papers should also not go to Chinese companies, Kaura said.