Africa-Press – Namibia. THREE out of six opposition political parties that were expected to convene at Okahandja this weekend to collectively declare the German-Namibian Joint Declaration on Reconciliation and Reconstruction illegitimate, were a no-show.
Despite being on the programme, the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), the South West Africa National Union (Swanu) and the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) did not attend the two-day event that was hosted by the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA).
The event that kicked off on Saturday morning and concluded on Sunday afternoon saw a low turnout, with crowds no larger than 100 people on each day, even though the gathering of mostly descendants of genocide victims was pegged to be massive.
The Secretary-General of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, Mutjinde Katjiua, said during the lead up to the weekend that the planned event would attracted various speakers from different traditional authorities, political parties and non-governmental organisations under the theme “Reasons for rejecting the Joint Declaration”.
The event was meant to send a strong message to parliament to stop the motion that the ruling Swapo Party is going to table this week Tuesday in the National Assembly, during which the Minister of Defense, Frans Kapofi, will express a standpoint on the joint genocide declaration.
LPM’s deputy leader, Henny Seibeb, told Informante today that his party had a separate meeting in Windhoek and that they where not invited at Okahandja.
It was not immediately clear why Swanu and RDP didn’t attend.
Leader of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), Dr. Panduleni Itula, at the event yesterday called for the rejection of the joint declaration for reconciliation, and urged for restorative justice.
President of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo), Esther Muinjangue, on her part said that as the prime mover of the 2006 National Assembly Resolution on the Ovaherero and Nama Genocide, her party will not accept the joint agreement in which genocide descendants were denied their right to participate in the discussions.
Ten years ago, a motion was tabled in the Parliament by the late Paramount Chief of the Ovaherero, Dr. Kuaim Riruako, and after debate, it was unanimously adopted and became the famous Resolution of 26 October 2006.
“This is the very Resolution the Namibian and German governments have now relegated to the archive without implementing it,” said Muinjangue, adding “They now negotiate on the basis of another thing they call ‘government-to-government’ negotiation outside the frame-work of the resolution in reference.”
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) Secretary General, Manuel Ngaringombe, yesterday at the event said that their common goal is to unseat the unjust Swapo government, partly but not exclusively, because of the way it is handling the genocide issue.
