Feuds in Okahandja
- SWAPO Party top leadership called in to intervene

By Asser Ntinda
Political squabbles and nasty skirmishes are threatening to tear SWAPO Party apart in Okahandja District, Otjozondjupa Region, unless the SWAPO Party top leadership intervenes urgently to take corrective measures and nip the squabbles in the bud before the situation explodes. This is the collective view of the SWAPO Party Okahandja District leadership, which has found itself conspicuously being sidelined by the national leaders assigned to Otjozondjupa Region and the SWAPO Party Regional Office in Otjiwarongo, where most of the plans are being hatched without the involvement of the Okahandja District leadership. The Okahandja District Leadership views these maneuvers as part of the smear campaigns aimed at character-assassinating some leaders, while enhancing the chances of other presidential hopefuls.

Okahandja District Leadership now wants SWAPO Party to nullify the election results of a meeting held on July 19 this year, saying that such elections were not procedural. National leaders assigned to Otjozondjupa Region are alleged to have contributed greatly to the squabbles and divisions within the Party in Okahandja, as they have allegedly ignored the Party Constitution and Rules and Procedures set up by the Party to oversee section, branch and district elections ahead of the Otjozondjupa Regional Conference.

By deliberately chucking out the Party Constitution and setting aside the Rules and Procedures, national leaders assigned to Otjozondjupa Region allowed members of the opposition parties such as the United Democratic Front, UDF, the Congress of Democrats, CoD, and the Rally for Democracy and Progress, RDP, to vote at what was supposed to be a SWAPO Party meeting.

Incumbent SWAPO Party District Coordinator, Cde Marten Benhard, said that those unhealthy systematic attempts by such leaders had irreparably damaged the image of the Party in Okahandja. He cited the meeting that took place on 19th of July this year at Epandulo Hall in Okahandja. The meeting was un-procedurally convened by Steve "Biko" Booys and was attended by Professor Peter Katjavivi, one of the national leaders assigned to Otjozondjupa Region. Other national leaders in attendance were Cdes Moses Amweelo, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister, Tjekero Tweya, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Elia Kaiyamo and Deputy Finance Minister, Calle Schlettwein.

The current Okahandja District leadership was not involved in the organization of that meeting as per the Constitution of SWAPO Party and the rules and procedures as set out by the Party. These guiding documents should be respected throughout the process, the District Leadership said.

"We the SWAPO Party leaders and members in Okahandja want such elections to be nullified," said Cde Benhard. "The Constitution of SWAPO Party is very clear. Non-Party members must not be allowed to take part in the election process right from the beginning.

"No elections of sections and branches should take place in the hall. Such elections must be conducted at the sections and branches where the people are. The Constitution says there shall be sections in residential areas and that is where elections should take place, not in halls as was the case with the Epandulo meeting.

"We want the SWAPO Party Constitution to be respected and be followed as a guiding document. The Epandulo Hall meeting was not a SWAPO Party meeting. It was a community meeting attended by people who were not members of SWAPO Party.

"The SWAPO Party Constitution was not followed because people were allowed to enter the venue of the conference without verification of their SWAPO Party membership cards. This left us wondering whether this conference was a community meeting or a SWAPO Party meeting. That was why we walked out."

Okahandja District Leadership said the Epandulo meeting was also not organized as per rules and procedures because the Okahandja District Leadership was not involved and was only invited at the last minute. The leadership said it did not even know what the meeting was all about. At that meeting too, it was, to the surprise of the Okahandja District Leadership, announced that Cde Benhard had been "replaced as district coordinator" and Cde Steve "Biko" Booys, the current SWAPO Party Regional Councilor, would be "Acting District Coordinator." Cde Biko was apparently "appointed" by the Otjiwarongo Regional Office, which was a violation of the SWAPO Party Constitution. The Constitution says that district officers must be elected by the District Conference. At no stage was the Okahandja District Leadership involved in "appointing" Cde Biko as Acting District Coordinator, said Cde Benhard "We already have a district coordinator," said one Okahandja district leader.

"How can they appoint an "acting district coordinator" when the incumbent is already there?

What are these people up to?

These are dirty games being played here.

"We tried to find out what the reasons were in appointing Cde Biko as acting district coordinator.

We were told that the appointment was necessitated by the fact that Cde Benhard now had a 'fulltime job' at the Okahandja Municipality. But Cde Biko, too, has a 'fulltime job' as a councilor. What is the difference between the two fulltime jobs?

"In any case, the power to elect district officers lies with the District, not the Regional Office.

Why is Okahandja not involved in all these arrangements?

Someone somewhere is busy with some clandestine arrangements.

Why are these things not done openly?"

The current Okahandja District Leadership had already completed the restructuring of five branches in Okahandja, which, the Leadership said, was carried out above board. Cde Benhard said that the Constitution and the Rules and Procedures on how the restructuring process should be carried out were strictly adhered to. According to Cde Benhard, Otjiwarongo had allegedly "nullified" elections which were conducted at the five branches in Okahandja, something which had also come as a surprise to the Okahandja District Leadership. "I do not know on which basis the Regional Executive took the decision to nullify those elections. I have all the documents with me on how those elections were conducted. How can Otjiwarongo nullify elections when it has no reports on how things went? As far as I am concerned, I am still the Okahandja District Coordinator. Cde Biko cannot terminate my contract.

One of the leaders assigned to Otjozondjupa Region, Deputy Home Affairs Minister, Cde Elia Kaiyamo, dismissed the allegations, saying that everything was done above board. He said that those who were complaining were those ones who had lost out. "We as leaders assigned to Otjozondjupa Region did all we could to ensure that everything was above board," he said. "We followed the rules and procedures. Membership cards were verified. The Party Constitution was our guiding document. Nothing was left hanging.

"The five branches which had completed their elections did so without the consent of the Regional Coordinator, who should oversee such elections. Why did the outgoing leadership not invite her? They know they messed up. They should have invited her, even if they did not like her. Those are the procedures."

Cde Benhard said that the Acting Regional Coordinator, Cde Susan Hikopua, could not, per procedures, oversee branch and section elections. "That is the responsibility of the District leadership," Cde Benhard.

"The Coordinator can only oversee District Conference elections, to which she was invited but never turned up. Letters are there to this effect." Minister Kaiyamo also alleged that one of the district leaders, Mrs Kristine Nunuhe, was "forced to resign by the outgoing district leadership" and was replaced by "someone of their liking." But Cde Benhard countered that this was not the case. He said Nunuhe resigned on her own. "She was never forced to resign," he said. "She resigned on her own accord. She even went to the bank to remove her signature from the SWAPO Party District Account. She has also removed from office a computer which she had donated to SWAPO Party some three years ago. She has shown no interest to serve the Party."

Last year, SWAPO Party Deputy Secretary General, Cde Nangolo Mbumba issued a circular to all the regional, district and branch executive committees, which set out strict Rules and Procedures on how the restructuring of SWAPO Party structures at all levels should be carried.

"No people who are not members of that particular section, branch, district or region should take part in the activities, discussions, elections, etc of that region, district, branch or section," said Cde Mbumba in the circular.

"Branch leaders are to oversee the election of the sections that fall under their branches. Equally, the District Leadership is to supervise and advise the election of branches under their districts. It equally follows that Regional Leaderships are to do the same for their districts under their regions. The National Leaders assigned to the respective regions are to oversee and monitor the election at the regional level.

"Following these procedures will help the SWAPO Party Leadership and Membership to avoid unnecessary suspicion, quarrels and disputes and (ensure) the fairness of elections and the legitimacy of electoral officials. Let us do all things correctly, procedurally and fair for the sake of true internal democracy and honest comradeship." Both sides claim that they had strictly followed those rules and procedures. As things stand now, Okahandja has two district leaderships - one headed by Cde Benhard and the other by Cde Biko. The SWAPO Party Office is now locked, as neither side wants to recognize the other.

"We blame national leaders assigned to Otjozondjupa Region for this mess we have found ourselves in," said Cde Benhard. "If the SWAPO Party leadership does not want to respect the Party Constitution and the Rules and Procedures the leadership has put in place, they should just tell us so and we will go home. Only an investigation by the top leadership into these irregularities will sort out this mess. Justice must prevail."

(NB: See also Professor Peter Katjavivi's response on the Katamila story on this page.)