Africa-Press – Namibia. POPULAR Democratic Movement (PDM) president McHenry Venaani has accused the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) of wanting to keep control of the management committee at the City of Windhoek.
Venaani believes control of this body should have rotated in terms of a coalition deal, however, the previous chairperson was from the IPC as well as the current one.
The fact that the IPC has four members on the management committee, further cements their ambition to control the committee, he said. “We all know why people want to control the management committee, we are all politicians.”
Venaani said PDM wouldn’t mind rejoining the coalition, but it has a problem with the dictates of a body that is dominated by one party. He stressed that the PDM is unconcerned about occupying a position, and can serve as ordinary councillors, as long as service delivery is prioritised.
Venaani was speaking at a media conference yesterday. During voting for council office-bearers, the PDM and Affirmative Repositioning (AR) withdrew from the process, which led to LPM and the National Unity Democratic Organisation’s (Nudo) councillors being elected as mayor and deputy mayor, respectfully.
The IPC holds the majority seats in the coalition, dominating the management committee. Venaani said with proper consultation, PDM would be willing to return to their marriage with IPC, Nudo and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM).
“I need to put it on record that PDM chose to stay out of the coalition because it was not consulted on the formation of the new government.
“We had preliminary meetings with our coalition partners today. Let’s go negotiate. We were the party that was in agreement that all opposition parties should be in one government,” he said.
Venaani said the PDM had no objection to LPM joining the coalition, but what drove them out was IPC leader Panduleni Itula negotiating without informing other coalition partners.
He also added that there was no agreement with PDM in terms of roles, such as who would become mayor. On top of this being a move of bad faith, it also prevented the rotation agreement from happening.
“This is something that should not happen again. We all know the government needs eight seats to govern without any hindrance, and we are that eight.” GENOCIDE DEBATE
Venaani weighed in on the genocide debate, attributing its success to the efforts of the opposition who fought to ensure the agreement did not go through.
“We call on the government to start earnest re-negotiations. We call on president Hage Geingob to appoint a new envoy.” Venaani said the structure should include those in the diaspora.
“These are things that we are demanding and we are unequivocal about it. All affected communities both in and outside Namibia should be brought to the table to create a firm representation.”
“At this point in time the word reparation is not included in the text, and we are adamant that there is a need to be unambiguous. The word reparation and atonement must be included,” he said, adding international laws must be considered. He criticised the government for not consulting widely enough, and indicated that the PDM intend to consult descendants in Botswana.
“We want to consult those communities in their language. We are pleading with the leadership of Germany to engage with us. We are disappointed with Swapo for refusing to refer the matter of genocide to the parliamentary committee, to monitor the debate.”
He does not expect the matter to be about bilateral aid, but rather it is a matter of principle which should address both the genocide and reparations, Venaani said.
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