Swapo to sue RDP

SWAPO says it will sue Rally for Democracy and Progress leader Hidipo Hamutenya for defamation after he alleged that the ruling party had been cheating in previous elections.

Swapo Secretary General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana threatened with legal action if Hamutenya failed to withdraw the allegation he had made during an RDP rally at Okongo on Sunday.’I won’t withdraw anything,’ Hamutenya hit back.’I will wait for the court and I will say more (there).’Iivula-Ithana, who was introduced as the ‘iron lady’ by Swapo Party Youth League secretary Elijah Ngurare, said at a press conference Swapo was shocked by Hamutenya’s ‘unfounded allegations’.’The gravity of these allegations is so serious that they cannot remain unchallenged by any sober-minded democratic person. No self-respecting person could make such unfounded allegations unless he or she does that under the influence of something best known only to him or herself,’ she said.Hamutenya told the crowd attending the Okongo rally that the ruling party had been using loopholes to cheat and win previous elections.’He must be embarrassed by what he had said at Okongo. We in Swapo Party challenge Mr Livius Hamutenya to come out with concrete evidence of the cheating he has alluded to. If Mr Hamutenya has been aware of cheating by the Swapo Party, why has he hidden this from law enforcement agencies? It is only common sense that if one goes with a group to steal he too is a thief himself,’ she said.Hamutenya told The Namibian that the fact that Ithana announced Swapo was suing him did not mean everyone in the party was doing it against him.The same principle applied about allegations that he was a thief, he said.’Being there (in Swapo) does not mean that I was a criminal,’ he said.Hamutenya said ballot boxes had been discovered on the banks of the Okavango River as well as some ballot papers at Gobabis.’Neither Swapo nor the Electoral Commission explained what happened to those papers. They were printed by NamPrint. How did it happen? To me that’s cheating,’ Hamutenya said. Iivula-Ithana said Swapo was not aware of any cheating.’If he was cheating then he must have been doing it all alone and not in the name or on behalf of the Swapo Party. He must come clear on whose behalf he has been cheating,’ she said.Iivula-Ithana, who doubles as Justice Minister, said Hamutenya needs to provide irrefutable proof of the alleged cheating.’If he fails to do so, then the law enforcement agencies must call him in in order to give a sworn statement before them. Failure to do so, Swapo Party reserves its right to seek redress before the court of law in this specific instance,’ she said.She did not say how long Swapo would wait before taking any legal action against Hamutenya.