Africa-Press – Namibia. INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula said Swapo vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and other government leaders should take responsibility for the ongoing challenges faced by Namibians.
Itula was responding to remarks made by Nandi-Ndaitwah that a flash flood in Windhoek in December last year occurred due to a lack of leadership at the Windhoek City Council.
“Leaders must be responsible to express the objective realities of any governance situation in a manner and veracity that respects voters’ rights and which confers confidence in the public about the analytical abilities of a leader of the Namibian people,” Itula said.
Itula has accused previous Swapo councillors of looting and mismanaging the Windhoek City Council.
“Namibian leaders, irrespective of political persuasion or affiliation, must be honest with the electorate at all times,” Itula said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah spoke at Oneshoko village in Oshana region, where Swapo held a meeting on Sunday.
“When did you hear Windhoek flooded? Last year, a small cloud came and it rained for less than 10 minutes […] the whole Windhoek was flooded,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
“Why? There was no one to unblock the water channels. There is no leadership in Windhoek. We are in trouble. We are in hell. One day Windhoek was very dirty. Did that happen during the Swapo leadership?”
Nandi-Ndaitwah blamed this on Windhoek residents voting for opposition parties to take over the Windhoek City Council.
She also said the local authorities in the //Kharas region, where the opposition is dominating, are “paralysed”.
In 2020’s regional council and local authority elections, the IPC secured four seats in the City of Windhoek, while Swapo has five, and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) and Affirmative Repositioning (AR) garnered two seats each.
In addition, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) and Nudo secured one seat each.
LPM spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa described Nandi-Ndaitwah’s comments as an underhanded tactic to try to take advantage of the situation.
He said Nandi-Ndaitwah’s comments are empty statements used to garner support for Swapo.
Political analyst Rui Tyitende said even during Swapo’s reign, people’s property was damaged, certain parts of the City were submerged by water and lives were ruined.
He said floods are a natural disaster that can occur even with the best mitigation strategies in place.
“It is a vacuous statement that is utterly ridiculous. The utterances by the Swapo vice president are clear evidence that the governing party suffers from ideological hang-ups,” he said.
However, political commentator Ndumba Kamwanyah said since the remark was made at a Swapo campaign, that kind of comment is naturally expected.
“For her really, trying to rally for her base for the upcoming elections. We have to take it as it is. It’s politics as usual and it’s expected from any political party,” he said.
Kamwanyah also said that since Nandi-Ndaitwah is the torch-bearer for Swapo next year, she must be above “cheap politicking” when it comes to issues affecting people’s lives.
He said that Nandi-Ndaitwah is trying to score political points using an important issue.
“It will be good for her to really articulate solutions to that issue. For her to only focus on the political aspect of that issue and try to use it to score political points, I don’t think it is a wise move.”
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
