AN ANALYSIS of the state of the political opposition in Namibia has shown that the political parties are either collapsing or have lost direction as most of them continue to lose membership and seats in the National Assembly.
Several opposition leaders have since called for the unification of political parties to improve competence.
Local political analyst Fanuel Kaapama recently said people are neither attracted nor convinced by the political dialogue of the opposition in the country.
He said there is a lack of interaction between party leaders and the electorate, which somehow kills the party because there is “an impression that it only takes place during elections”.
While Swapo gained momentum from its history and involvement in the liberation struggle, most of the opposition parties in Namibia failed to take off. There are currently 16 registered political parties with the Electoral Commission of Namibia. Some of them were formed before independence, with others coming after independence.
Most of the opposition parties are on the verge of collapsing, with their founders and members reportedly rejoining the ruling party in droves.
Since 2000, the political opposition has either failed to gain seats in the National Assembly, or have only won less than five seats.
A glance at the share of seats in the National Assembly from the years 2000 to 2009 shows that out of the 72 members of the National Assembly, the combined opposition only managed to get 17 seats, while Swapo maintained 54 to 55 seats.
The number of seats in the National Assembly were increased to 96 in 2014. The opposition parties, however, failed to make use of the growing number of seats and only gained 19 seats, with the ruling party taking up 77 seats.
The political party designated as official opposition in Namibia has since 2000 also only managed to garner less than 10 seats in parliament, with the highest being the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), which had eight seats in 2009.
The question thus remains: What is it that the political opposition parties in Namibia are not doing to attract members or influence the public to vote for them?
Most of the political opposition parties are dormant throughout the years, and only come to life during the elections.
Apart from the limited number of members of the National Assembly who make little to no impact towards the decision-making process, most of the opposition parties are neither contributing to contemporary debates in the country nor attending to issues affecting the country as a whole.
Besides the official opposition DTA, which has at some point expressed itself on matters such as the closure of the SME Bank and the state of the country’s economy, little to none of the other parties have raised concerns or presented their positions to the public on where they stand on the contemporary issues on the ground.
Kaapama, however, blamed the incapability of the political opposition to members of those parties who do not initiate interactions with those they have elected into positions.
“I blame it on the members for not reaching out to their leaders in parliament to demand change and lobby for what they want to be done. The interaction between party leaders and the electorate should be continuous,” said Kaapama.
So far, only Swanu out of 15 political parties has launched its position paper which will be presented at the second national land conference next month.
Most of the opposition parties also do not have functioning structures. They have had the same leaders since their formation, and their youth structures are either not functioning or are non-existent when compared to the ruling party.
An observation around Swanu’s membership has shown that the party is made up of elders who are coming a long way from the colonial ages, and the party’s youth structure is non-existent.
The party’s president, Tangeni Iijambo, last week told The Namibian that the party was experiencing problems with its membership, citing division among party members, and that some members were leaving the party to rejoin either the ruling party or other parties.
The party had no representative in the National Assembly until 2009 when it managed to get only one seat, and got one seat again in 2014.
The RDP was the official opposition in 2009, shortly after it was formed. The party has since collapsed since its late founder Hidipo Hamutenya returned to the ruling party in 2015, seven years after leaving the party.
The party’s top leadership has moved a vote of no confidence in their current president, Jeremiah Nambinga. There were also some party members who were calling for the removal of their representatives in the National Assembly.
Nambinga recently told The Namibian that the party’s structures were not following his directives, and that the party was divided.
Nambinga said one of the issues hampering progress in the party was division among the members and the infighting between party leaders. He said the motion against him was a clear indication of the divisions in the party.
The party currently only has three seats in parliament.
The National Unity Democratic Organisation of Namibia (Nudo) recently lost about 150 members to the ruling party in a region considered to be their stronghold.
