Africa-Press – Namibia. CRACKS within the South West Africa National Union (Swanu) are widening with the recently ‘elected’ president Evalistus Kaaronda and another faction led by Charles Katjivirue both claiming the soul of the party.
The bone of contention between the two factions hinges on the party’s presidency.
Kaaronda, who was elected president at a congress that took place earlier, denounced Katjivirue’s claim to the presidency as a fallacy.
Speaking to The Namibian last week, Kaaronda said Katjivirue remains suspended for having organised and participated in an extraordinary congress that Kaaronda maintains was unlawful.
In May 2021, a meeting chaired by Rihupisa Kandando at Epukiro in the Omaheke region, dismissed the leadership of Tangeni Iijambo and declared a vote of no confidence in Swanu’s central committee.
Katjivirue told The Namibian that he did not attend that meeting.
In August 2021, the party held an extraordinary congress in Windhoek that elected Katjivirue as party president.
According to Kaaronda, the meetings and extraordinary congress held at Epukiro and in Windhoek were illegal, which led to Katjivirue’s suspension.
Kaaronda said Katjivirue will face a disciplinary hearing, to defend himself against the charges behind his suspension.
“The charges are ready. He cannot deny that his charges have been finalised, said Kaaronda.
The party then held another congress last month, which elected Kaaronda as president.
Kaaronda told The Namibian that Katjivirue attended the congress, but was not allowed to speak because of his suspension.
“As a suspended member of the party, he had his rights suspended and he could not participate fully, but he nonetheless went to attend congress,” he said.
Katjivirue, on the other hand, said he doesn’t recognise Kaaronda’s presidency as legitimate, due to the congress that elected him not being successful.
“As far as I’m concerned, Kaaronda is not the leader of Swanu, there was no congress. We were there […] the police came and closed the event because it was starting to get out of hand. We only heard the next morning that Kaaronda is the president,” Katjivirue told Desert Radio last week.
Both Kaaronda and Katjivirue informed The Namibian that the Kaaronda faction, backed by Iijambo, have asked the courts for an interdict against the Katjivirue faction.
“We asked the court for an interdict against them so that they will not use the name of the party without the consent of the leadership, they will not use the party letterhead writing letters pretending to be leaders of the party, and we also asked the court to have them pay our legal fees,” Kaaronda said.
Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanya said the divisions within Swanu are weakening the party.
“Swanu is a train wreck in motion and might never recover again,” Kamwanya said.
This speaks to the status of opposition politics in the country, he said.
“The factional battles we are witnessing within Swanu are actually a reflection of what’s wrong and has gone wrong with Namibian political parties, old and new. The fights are more about personalities, rather than an ideological or philosophical battle,” Kamwanya told The Namibian yesterday.
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