Africa-Press – Namibia. Opposition parties have accused Swapo president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of threatening voters after she said service delivery will be delayed if Swapo does not win a majority in the upcoming regional and local authority elections.
Nandi-Ndaitwah made the comments at the opening of Swapo’s central committee meeting on Saturday, urging voters to give the party a decisive mandate.
Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) leaders and spokesperson, Immanuel Nashinge, called the remarks undemocratic and misleading.
“That’s just a political statement. It doesn’t make sense at all. Local authorities depend on the minister of urban and rural development, who is a Swapo deployee and cabinet member. Even budgetary issues require ministerial approval, so blaming opposition parties is dishonest,” Nashinge said.
He argued that many service delivery failures occurred in towns run by Swapo.
“Most towns remain the same as they were in 1990. Rundu sometimes goes without water, Katima Mulilo floods every rainy season because there is no sewage system, and Keetmanshoop is stagnant. Who runs these towns? Swapo,” he said.
Nashinge said opposition-led towns had improved accountability.
“In the northern regions, things have changed thanks to IPC councillors. Before, mayors were handing out tenders illegally. Our councillors exposed corruption and were even suspended for speaking out. Today, things are done procedurally, as per the Local Authority Act of 1992,” he said.
He warned against undermining democracy.
“If Swapo insists only it can rule, why do we have elections? Why print ballots and campaign if the goal is for Swapo to dominate everywhere? Democracy is a combination of all parties, not a one-party system,” he said.
He said Namibia’s service delivery challenges were rooted in decades of Swapo rule, not the five years IPC had been active.
“We found towns with no roads, ghettos in Windhoek, and unresolved land issues in Lüderitz and elsewhere. These problems were created by Swapo. Opposition parties should not be blamed,” he told the Windhoek Observer.
In past regional and local authority elections, Swapo lost 29 local authority seats in twelve town councils and two village councils in northern Namibia to IPC.
The party also lost control of more than 30 towns and village councils across the country, including Windhoek, Oranjemund, Lüderitz, Swakopmund, and Walvis Bay. In 2015, Swapo controlled 52 of the 57 local authority areas in Namibia, but later held majorities in only 20.
Affirmative Repositioning (AR) spokesperson George Kambala described Nandi-Ndaitwah’s remarks as blackmail
“The statement by NNN saying that service delivery would be delayed if it did not secure a majority in local and regional elections is just pure blackmail. It exposes their arrogance and their belief that only they can rule until Jesus comes, which is total arrogance and incompetence on the part of Netumbo herself,” he said.
Kambala stressed that service delivery was not the monopoly of any political party.
“Local councils and regional councils are mandated by the law and the constitution to serve the people of Namibia regardless of political configuration. To suggest otherwise is to insult the very essence of our democracy and to admit that Swapo has no vision beyond clinging to power,” he said.
He said opposition-led councils had proven capable.
“Opposition-led councils have produced unqualified financial reports, unlike Swapo-run authorities which for decades submitted qualified reports indicating mismanagement,” he said.
Kambala urged Namibians to reject what he called outdated fear-mongering strategies.
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani accused Swapo of corruption and poor service delivery.
“What we are seeing is that all cartels related to money mismanagement or corruption are linked to Swapo. They are the ones in court. Swapo is in court over corruption. There is no other opposition in court over corruption,” he said.
Venaani pointed to state-owned enterprises and Swapo-run towns as further evidence of failure.
“All these, Namdia, Namcor, are Swapo at the bedrock of it. It is Swapo’s organised crime clientele. Where they are leading, towns like Ondangwa and Oshakati are falling apart. Go to Grootfontein, where they are running, it is dead,” he said.
Landless People’s Movement (LPM) spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa called the comments misleading and dangerous.
“Currently Swapo is the majority, and service delivery has been at a dismal state in all regions where they have a stronghold. Both Kavango regions, which are Swapo-led, are the worst performing regions when it comes to service delivery. The next few regions are also governed by them. For Swapo to say service delivery will be delayed if they don’t gain majority is misleading because they do have majority and progress is delayed,” he said.
Simataa warned that the remarks could be seen as a threat to opposition-led councils.
“This is the second time Swapo leaders have expressed such undemocratic and unethical sentiments. The last cycle they said ‘they have all the money,’ alluding to how they planned not to support regions led by the opposition. There has also been resistance from the previous minister of MURD in assisting regional bodies. The actions were either great negligence or strategic sabotage, targeting LPM councillors, delaying the signing of projects, and interfering with LPM solutions for land,” he said.
He added LPM viewed Nandi-Ndaitwah’s statement as either delusional or politically immature.
“If the statement was made as an expression that only Swapo can deliver services, they have failed dismally over the past 30 years. Regions under their continuous rule report the highest levels of poor sanitation and lack of toilets, as confirmed by census data and other reports. It is only with opposition leadership that some councils and municipalities have been audited. Swapo has already proven it cannot deliver,” he said.
“If the statement was made as a threat, it revealed a dangerous approach to governance. Since they run the executive branch, it is an undemocratic and politically immature expression that points to possible sabotage of opposition-led areas. That would mean deliberately delaying services and harming Namibians simply because they did not vote for Swapo,” he said.
Three months ago, LPM councillor Ivan Skrywer accused urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa of bullying opposition-led councils.
This comes as Swapo faces internal disputes over district conferences.
On Friday, members in Tsumkwe clashed after the postponement of the party’s district conference, which was set to elect its candidate for the Tsumkwe constituency ahead of the regional council elections on 26 November 2025.
Last week, the Windhoek Observer reported that internal conflict delayed candidate selection in Walvis Bay and Arandis, forcing the postponement of conferences in both towns. The conferences were also meant to shortlist aspirants for Arandis, Walvis Bay Urban, and Walvis Bay Rural constituencies.
A dispute over candidate eligibility in Walvis Bay disrupted the process.
Members said they were informed only registered party delegates could stand as candidates, a rule they claimed was not communicated at the start of nominations and accused leadership of trying to manipulate the outcome.
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