Swapo women heavyweights fail

A MINISTER, a deputy minister, a former Cabinet minister and a member of Parliament are among a number of high-profile Swapo Party Women’s Council (SPWC) members who have failed to make it onto the council’s central committee.

The SPWC held its national congress from December 7 to 11 in Swakopmund, where they held elections for the position of secretary, deputy secretary and central committee.Health and Social Services Deputy Minister Petrina Haingura was re-elected as the SPWC secretary for a second term, and she said the congress went according to plan, proceeding smoothly in unity of purpose.The congress elected 40 members to the central committee, which in total consists of 53 members as 13 of the SPWC’s regional coordinators are already members of the central committee by virtue of their positions.The most notable absentee, not only from the newly elected list of central committee members but also from the list of candidates who contested the 40 seats, is Gender Equality Minister Doreen Sioka.Sioka, a former SPWC central committee member, is reported to have resigned from that committee just a few weeks before the national congress due to a clash with Haingura.At the time, SPWC assistant secretary for information Marlene Mungunda denied any knowledge of Sioka’s resignation, and Sioka herself also dismissed the reports. However, the fact that she did not contest any of the central committee seats at the recent elections could be evidence to the contrary.Mungunda, herself a former Gender Equality Minister, has also failed to make the cut for the new SPWC central committee as she only managed to garner 42 votes from a possible 493 to come in at 66th place.Another notable SPWC members who failed to secure a central committee seat is Gender Equality Deputy Minister Angelika Muharukua. Muharukua only managed to secure 47 votes, landing her in 57th place on the list of candidates.Muharukua got the same number of votes as fellow parliamentarian Juliet Kavetuna, who has also resigned from the Swapo Party Youth League central committee.Other notable SWPC members who have not made it onto the central committee are former Windhoek East Regional Councillor Rosalia Muashekele-Sibiya and Loini Geingos, the former wife of Trade Minister Hage Geingob. Shortly before the national congress kicked off The Namibian reported on divisions within the SPWC and widespread allegations that some of the women’s league officials had been deliberately sidelined from the event.The Namibian learned that the outcomes of the SPWC regional conferences for the Caprivi and Otjozondjupa regions were annulled by the women’s council. The Namibian was also told that these two regions were as a result not expected to have delegates at the congress.However, Haingura said all of Namibia’s 13 regions were represented at the congress.

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