Africa-Press – Namibia. PRESIDENT Hage Geingob is allegedly under pressure from some Swapo leaders to endorse the person who will take over as the party’s vice president and potentially represent it at the 2024 elections.
“The president is under pressure from his supporters to tell them who he wants. It’s a mistake for anyone to go into congress in open and unnecessary warfare with him, as he remains the kingmaker,” senior party sources say.
Swapo is set to hold its congress next year, where it will elect the party’s leadership for the next five years. Secretary general Sophia Shaningwa this week confirmed that Geingob is set to compete for the party president position.
This would leave the vice president position as the next key battle among Swapo politicians. Whoever wins that position is likely to represent Swapo at the national presidential elections and potentially challenge Independent Patriots for Change leader Panduleni Itula.
Itula played a massive role in reducing Geingob’s electoral popularity from 87% to 56% in 2019. Geingob has kept his cards close to his chest on who he prefers to take over.
In the past year, his associates said the president would allow the process of selecting their next leader to take place naturally. There are, however, indications that Geingob wants to have a role in who succeeds him.
Geingob could leave power with controversial scandals, such as the Fishrot court case and the Areva scandal in France hanging over his head. Having a politician he trusts or can control could be key in his choice of who he backs as the next Swapo vice president, sources say.
Deputy prime minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is currently Swapo’s vice president. She is among those expected to compete for the position next year. Some believe her campaign – allegedly supported by the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) – has started too early.
Sources say Geingob has reservations about Nandi-Ndaitwah taking over. Geingob has allegedly warmed up to her in recent months, but it’s not clear if this new-found connection would last long.
“Nandi-Ndaitwah remains in pole position to be the presidential candidate for 2024, but it is unclear whether she has the support of the president,” Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) executive director Graham Hopwood said yesterday.
Although the party’s youth league has been campaigning for Nandi-Ndaitwah, sources say officials close to Geingob have at some stage instructed the party’s youth league representatives to stop campaigning for the deputy prime minister.
These instructions were allegedly issued at an event at Geingob’s private residence outside Windhoek, also attended by minister of environment, forestry and tourism Pohamba Shifeta.
NAMES DROPPED Another candidate linked to the vice president is prime minister Saara Kuugongwela-Amadhila. Unlike Nandi-Ndaitwah, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has not indicated any intentions to succeed Geingob.
Hopwood yesterday said Kuugongwela-Amadhila’s star is on the wane after a number of damaging reports linking her family to controversial deals. “Her hopes of promotion probably depend on support from Geingob,” Hopwood said.
He said there are a number of other candidates in the mix who could emerge over the next year, including former Swapo Youth League leader Elijah Ngurare, who some have tipped as future secretary general, and Shifeta.
“The possibility of fiercely fought contests could create tension ahead of the congress,” Hopwood said.
He said minister of defence and veterans affairs Frans Kapofi’s name keeps coming up, despite him denying this, while minister of works and transport John Mutorwa’s chances probably depend on how well he recovers from Covid-19.
“To avoid infighting it would be best for the party to select a successor at the next congress, but there are a number of contenders, and it is unclear who the president may favour,” Hopwood said.
Geingob himself would seek another term as head of the party until 2027, which would allow him to wield considerable influence after 2025, he said. ‘ONE FACTION’
SPYL secretary Ephraim Nekongo yesterday said the youth league does not have a candidate to support at the moment. He said the party’s youth wing does not want to engage in succession issues as they cause division.
Nekongo said the party must follow its own introspection resolutions which mandates the party to set up a committee to run the campaigns of all nominated candidates.
This would allow candidates to have equal access to all party machinery and structures, Nekongo said. “The resolutions are clear. We must just have one faction that is called Swapo. All candidates must be able to use party structures to campaign,” he said.
‘NOT A KINGDOM’
Former Swapo information secretary Helmut Angula this week said the task to choose Geingob’s successor should be left to the party’s politburo and central committee.
He said these structures should be allowed to choose the candidate for president as prescribed by the party’s constitution. Angula said the notion of an incumbent president choosing his or her successor does not make sense, because Swapo is not a kingdom.
“Doing that would be feudalism,” Angula said. He said the successor is not anointed, but nominated and elected to serve for five years. Angula said the party should also not be swayed by outside influence or pressure. He urged Swapo to be vigilant and avoid quarrels over succession.
Those expressing their opinion on their preferred candidates should also not be victimised or treated as tribalists for opposing the incumbent or his or her candidate, he said.
“There is no law that says you cannot express an opinion on the candidature. That is childish,” Angula said.
Former prime minister Nahas Angula, who lost against Geingob at the 2017 congress, was not interested in Swapo’s succession issues when approached for comment yesterday. He said if the current Swapo leadership wants the party to survive the next election, “unity and political cohesion are key”.
“You need voices from different perspectives. If you put power in one person’s hands, the country would be dependent on that person to address the issues. Everything depends on the mood of that person,” he said.
“A political system without checks and balances runs the danger of becoming a one-man show,” Angula said. Nandi-Ndaitwah and Kuugongelwa Amadhila could not be reached for comment by the time of going to print.
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