Africa-Press – Namibia. RALLY for Democracy and Progress (RDP) leader Mike Kavekotora (66) last week resigned as a member of Namibia’s parliament.
Kavekotora confirmed this resignation last Thursday.
He said he has submitted his resignation to Lydia Kandetu, the secretary of the National Assembly.
Kandetu yesterday also confirmed Kavekotora’s resignation.
“Yes, he has sent his resignation letter, and his last working day will be 31 March, according to his letter,” she said.
Although Kavekotora resigned as a member of parliament, he will remain RDP president until the party’s elective convention next year.
“I want to build the party, plus I don’t see any output from parliament,” he said.
He said he wants to take over as head of state when president Hage Geingob steps down in March 2025.
Kavekotora is also pushing for a coalition government beyond 2025.
He did not say which parties the proposed coalition would involve. “It was a fight, but they later gave in. I cannot stay in parliament, make inputs without results, or grow the party to be in government come 2025,” Kavekotora said.
His deputy, Kennedy Shekupaleka, is set to be sworn in as a member of parliament at the end of this month.
Shekupakela is next on the RDP’s parliamentary list.
When Kavekotora joined the National Assembly in 2015, he was elected as chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on public accounts for the National Assembly from 2015 to March 2020.
He relinquished that position when he was replaced by United Democratic Front (UDF) parliamentarian Dudu Murorua in 2020. Kavekotora served as RDP secretary general from October 2013 to June 2019 when he and Shekupakela were elected RDP president and vice-president, respectively.
Before he joined the RDP, Kavekotora was in the semi-state sector where he was employed as general manager at Telecom Namibia from 1996 to 2000.
From 2000 to 2005 he was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Housing Enterprise. In 2008, he was acting CEO and general manager of marketing at TransNamib.
Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah says chances of Kavekotora becoming president of the country and the RDP becoming the ruling party are slim as the country’s current political environment is not in favour of Kavekotora or the RDP.
He says the RDP is likely to increase its seats in the National Assembly as voters vote for any party they see as a credible alternative to the ruling party.
Political analyst Rui Tyitende says the RDP died long ago. He says the party is likely to be eliminated in next year’s presidential and National Assembly elections.
“I do not think they will even retain the one seat they currently occupy.
My hunch is that Kavekotora knows they are not coming back and is bidding farewell to avoid humiliating himself,” Tyitende says.
He says talks on forming an alliance to topple Swapo is far-fetched and absurd.
Tyitende says the opposition is weak and fragmented and their current internal division and bickering is only alienating those who wanted an alternative to Swapo.
“What we currently have is a ‘coalition of the wounded’ and not a ‘coalition of the people’. “Swapo will win the upcoming elections as they face no formidable opposition,” he says.
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