Swapo wings’ conferences must conclude this week

ALL wings of the Swapo Party, namely the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL), the Swapo Party Women’s Council (SPWC) and the Swapo Party Elders Council (SPEC), are expected to conclude their regional conferences by the end of this week.
SPYL secretary Elijah Ngurare yesterday told The Namibian that Hardap, Karas, Omaheke, Erongo, Caprivi, Oshikoto and Otjozondjupa are yet to conclude their conferences.

The wings have been directed by the party’s Politburo to finalise their regional conferences by the end of June, although this could be extended to the first week of July under extraordinary circumstances. Each conference will send 10 delegates to the Swapo elective congress towards the end of the year when the positions of the party vice president, secretary general and deputy secretary general, among others, will be up for grabs.The SPYL will hold its congress in August. Although Ngurare is yet to reveal whether or not he will stand for re-election at the SPYL congress, his chances of retaining the post as secretary of the youth league were strengthened last weekend after the Khomas Region became the second to nominate him as its preferred candidate. The other region that has thrown its support behind Ngurare is Kavango. Other names that have been linked to the secretary position thus far include the National Youth Council’s Mandela Kapere and Julius Namoloh, as well as Hardap SPYL regional secretary Titus /Huisemab. They too have not yet publicly declared their interest in the position. The Oshikoto Region’s Armas Amukwiyu is also said to be in the running.’The regions are not required to endorse their preferred candidates although it is their prerogative to do so,’ said Ngurare. The SPYL conferences have not been without controversy over the past weeks, with both Oshana and Oshikoto having had conference results nullified. ‘The glitches in Oshana and Oshikoto were primarily of procedural and administrative nature. They have now been corrected and thus Oshana has already finalised its conference. What needs emphasising is that regional conferences of SPYL must be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the SPYL constitution, nothing more, nothing less,’ said Ngurare.