‘Tribalist’ youth will not win elections – Mbumba

VICE president Nangolo Mbumba has accused the youth of forming political parties along tribal and regional lines, saying they will never win national elections to run the country.

Mbumba said this while addressing a reunion of the Namibia Exile Kids Association (Neka) at Omutsegondjamba in the Oshikoto region on Saturday.

Mbumba also used the platform to announce his retirement as vice president, without naming a specific date.

“My days are numbered. I will not seek any government job. I have not campaigned for you to vote for me. So, let Neka be the one to say yes, he told us first that he was going to retire,” Mbumba said.

Mbumba said some young people have become tribalists, while others form political parties along tribal lines.

“They will never win elections. People did not die (in the struggle for independence) for their families or regions,” Mbumba said.

Black on black hatred does not have a place in a free and independent country. It should be treated as a retrogressive and reactionary tendency which is alien to ‘one Namibia, one nation’, he said.

Mbumba urged young people to desist from tribalism.

However, Landless People’s Movement (LPM) spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa said it is Swapo that was formed along tribal lines through its fore-runners the Owambo People’s Congress (OPC) and Owambo People’s Organisation (OPO).

“The history of the party expresses that they were for Owambo people first and when they realised it was to their advantage to include other tribes, they took advantage of that opportunity,” he said.

Simataa said LPM has shown its strides in having individuals from several different ethnic backgrounds.

He said LPM is not only diverse along ethnic lines but also across gender, age and race.

Simataa said Mbumba’s comments are fallacious in how political systems form.

Mbumba has served in his position for five years.

Lately, there has been speculation that Mbumba was retiring. However, he denied this to The Namibian two weeks ago.

In fewer than 10 years, two former Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) leaders – Job Amupanda and Bernadus Swartbooi – have left Swapo to form their own political homes.

Swartbooi and the former personal assistant to former Swapo secretary general Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, Henny Seibeb, formed LPM, while Amupanda and other former SPYL leaders George Kambala and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma formed the Affirmative Repositioning movement.

The movement is now in the process of transforming into a political party, and is likely to participate in next year’s elections.

Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) president Epafras Mukwiilongo said his party was not formed based on regionalism or tribalism, but in response to “gross abuses Namibians are subjected to”.

Mukwiilongo said it is an insult to suggest that political parties are formed based on regions and tribes.

Meanwhile, at the same event on Saturday founding president Sam Nujoma, in a speech read on his behalf by Swapo Oshikoto regional coordinator Armas Amukwiyu, said the older generation has done its part and now it was the youth’s turn to do so.

“Each generation must add its own bricks and leave room for the next generation to continue building and adding onto it.”

He commended the government’s initiatives of introducing a variety of interventions to mitigate the challenges faced by young people.

Nujoma said the government has created a favourable policy environment for the youth to take advantage of key opportunities that exist in order to promote and support entrepreneurship.