Swapo urged to come clean

RESIDENTS at Ongwediva held a peaceful demonstration yesterday to condemn the removal of elected councillors.

They demanded that the candidates they voted for in the Local Authority elections be sworn in immediately. “In the spirit of openness, transparency, consultation, justice and mutual respect, we call upon the Swapo Party Secretary General, the Electoral Commission of Namibia and the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court to come clean and clear, and act in accordance with the will and wishes of the Ongwediva Town Electorate,” a petition handed to the Magistrate reads in part.Four Swapo councillors – John Kanandjembo, Nangolo Auala, Samuel Nanguti and Angelina Amushigamo – who were on the ballot on which voters based their choice – have been removed from the list of candidates to be sworn in.Four former councillors, Erastus Uutoni, Patricia Kashuupulwa, Angelina Angula and Isak Ndokosho, who lost out in the party’s internal selection process, have been put on the list in their place.Three of the original candidates on the list – Julia Nepembe, Jason Asino and Maria Kavalela – have been retained.Placards carried by the demonstrators bore slogans such as:’If you are not elected you are not wanted’, ‘Let’s practice democracy’, ‘We need change in Ongwediva’ and ‘We want transparency in Swapo’ as they marched to the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court.There they read out their petition before handing it over to the senior Oshakati Magistrate, Helena Ekandjo.The petition, read by demo spokesperson Lazarus Namwandi Iipinge, said that Swapo Party members and residents were expressing strong discontent.They further said that they had learnt with shock, disbelief and disappointment that four of the Swapo candidates they had voted for had later been withdrawn from the list of duly elected Ongwediva Town councillors.”We feel strongly that this practice does not auger well for unity, transparency, fairness and democracy in Swapo Party structures in Ongwediva Town,” the petition read.It continued:”We, the residents of Ongwediva, are intelligent and politically mature enough to choose the people we want and trust to lead us in this town.We do not want anybody else to dictate us and impose non-nominated and unselected people on us.”We all call upon comrades Erastus Uutoni, Patricia Kashuupulwa, Angela Angula and Isak Ndokosho to accept their defeat and respect the wishes and aspirations of the residents of Ongwediva Town.”Ongwediva resident Josef Namwandi, who took part in the demonstration, said that it was high time that “when we are talking about democracy and transparency, then we must mean it.We cannot use double standards when we talk about these two things – otherwise we are fooling the people and ourselves.””In the spirit of openness, transparency, consultation, justice and mutual respect, we call upon the Swapo Party Secretary General, the Electoral Commission of Namibia and the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court to come clean and clear, and act in accordance with the will and wishes of the Ongwediva Town Electorate,” a petition handed to the Magistrate reads in part.Four Swapo councillors – John Kanandjembo, Nangolo Auala, Samuel Nanguti and Angelina Amushigamo – who were on the ballot on which voters based their choice – have been removed from the list of candidates to be sworn in.Four former councillors, Erastus Uutoni, Patricia Kashuupulwa, Angelina Angula and Isak Ndokosho, who lost out in the party’s internal selection process, have been put on the list in their place.Three of the original candidates on the list – Julia Nepembe, Jason Asino and Maria Kavalela – have been retained.Placards carried by the demonstrators bore slogans such as:’If you are not elected you are not wanted’, ‘Let’s practice democracy’, ‘We need change in Ongwediva’ and ‘We want transparency in Swapo’ as they marched to the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court.There they read out their petition before handing it over to the senior Oshakati Magistrate, Helena Ekandjo.The petition, read by demo spokesperson Lazarus Namwandi Iipinge, said that Swapo Party members and residents were expressing strong discontent.They further said that they had learnt with shock, disbelief and disappointment that four of the Swapo candidates they had voted for had later been withdrawn from the list of duly elected Ongwediva Town councillors.”We feel strongly that this practice does not auger well for unity, transparency, fairness and democracy in Swapo Party structures in Ongwediva Town,” the petition read.It continued:”We, the residents of Ongwediva, are intelligent and politically mature enough to choose the people we want and trust to lead us in this town.We do not want anybody else to dictate us and impose non-nominated and unselected people on us.”We all call upon comrades Erastus Uutoni, Patricia Kashuupulwa, Angela Angula and Isak Ndokosho to accept their defeat and respect the wishes and aspirations of the residents of Ongwediva Town.”Ongwediva resident Josef Namwandi, who took part in the demonstration, said that it was high time that “when we are talking about democracy and transparency, then we must mean it.We cannot use double standards when we talk about these two things – otherwise we are fooling the people and ourselves.”