Africa-Press – Namibia. Swapo lawmaker Elifas Dingara has given notice of his resignation from the National Assembly, bringing to a close a parliamentary career spanning over 15 years.
Dingara confirmed to New Era that he will officially vacate his seat at the end of the month, insisting the decision was out of his own volition.
“I have given notice to resign. I will resign at the end of the month. Out of my own will, and there’s nothing behind it,” Dingara said yesterday.
A former president of the Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu), he first entered Parliament in 2010.
Dingara, who returned to Parliament less than a year ago, dismissed suggestions that his exit was abrupt or politically motivated.
“It is not all of a sudden,” he said.
The resignation opens the way for Swapo Party Youth League deputy secretary Christine Haindaka to enter the legislative chambers.
Haindaka is next on the party’s parliamentary list.
Dingara said his decision to step down before the end of the current term was deliberate and aimed at creating space for younger leaders to gain meaningful parliamentary experience.
He wants to hand over the future to the next generation on a silver platter, as opposed to them having to fight for it at elections, whether internally or nationally.
“I was disappointed many years ago in those who have left Parliament at the end of their terms. If you leave Parliament at the end of the term, you are not handing over to the next generation. You are leaving so that the next generation can search for the opportunity itself. I don’t want that,” he said. He argued that resigning now would allow his successor to serve almost a full term and build the institutional knowledge necessary to become an effective legislator.
“I did not finish a year. I only served 11 months. So the next person must have at least four years plus one month. That is my intention. I don’t want to eat alone, and then everything is taken if the person becomes a useless leader,” he said.
Dingara said he will now focus on farming in the Kavango East region, where he has been operating on a part-time basis.
“So now I want to be a full-time farmer,” he said, describing food production as another way of contributing to national development.
N$1 million dream
Throughout his time in Parliament, Dingara will be mostly remembered for his fervent positions on economic redistribution.
He previously drew national attention when he proposed that every Namibian citizen should receive N$1 million from the country’s natural resource wealth, a suggestion that sparked widespread debate about wealth distribution and economic justice. His wealth redistribution bill was later withdrawn for further refining. He promised to give the nation direction regarding this dream.
Swapo
Meanwhile, Swapo deputy secretary general Uahekua Herunga has dismissed suggestions that the recent wave of changes among the party’s members of Parliament signals instability within its ranks.
Dingara’s departure comes less than a fortnight after Herunga’s resignation as Swapo’s chief whip in the National Assembly, over six months after the dismissal of former Deputy Prime Minister and mines and energy minister Natangwe Iithete, who now only serves as a backbencher in the august House, and the dismissal of former land reform and fisheries minister Mac-Albert Hengari early last year due to a court case he was facing. Herunga, however, dismissed the suggestion of a deepening crisis within Swapo or the President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah-led administration.
He accused sections of the media of attempting to revive old developments to create an impression of turmoil within the ruling party.
“To me, you are just trying to seek problems where there are no problems at all. That’s what you are trying to do,” he said.
Herunga insisted there was “absolutely nothing strange at all” about the recent changes, arguing that leadership adjustments and redeployments are part of normal political processes.
“There is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing sinister at all. He was never forced; talk to him, he will tell you, he will give you all the information,” he said.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
