Africa-Press – Namibia. A SWAPO Party branch coordinator in the Erongo Region is threatening to serve his comrades “the hottest coffee” should they fail to fully explain the decision to suspend him as party leader of the Okahenge branch of the Walvis Bay Urban district.
The decision to suspend the outspoken Reinhold Shipwiikineni was taken by the Executive Committee of the Walvis Bay Urban district on 30 October and a suspension letter was issued to him on November 10.
However, he dismissed the suspension as null and void. Shipwiikineni faces a litany of accusations, including the alleged flouting of party rules, disrespect of the party leadership, and unbecoming and unethical behaviour.
He is further accused of making statements that bring the name of the party into disrepute. Shipwiikineni was the brain behind the so-called soldiers’ petition and the main organizer of a demonstration against mandatory Covid-19 vaccination which was staged in Windhoek last month.
He has, in the recent past, given President Hage Geingob several ultimatums to vacate State House and demanded a special party indaba to remove the current party leadership that he labels “illegitimate”. He refers to the supporters of president Geingob as “Harambee hand clappers”.
The suspension letter, seen by Informanté, is signed by district coordinator Albertine Nkoshi and district mobiliser Claudius Ikera. The suspension was meant to be purely an internal disciplinary matter but quickly found its way into the public domain.
The letter is accompanied by a handwritten annotation saying that Shipwiikineni was invited to the party office to receive the letter but refused, requesting instead that the letter be sent to his private email address. When approached for comment, Shipwiikineni said that the purported suspension was illegal, therefore null and void.
On 13 November he wrote a letter on a Swapo Party letterhead, which he placed on social media platforms, accusing the district leadership of being used by Geingob and threatening to serve them “the hottest coffee” should they fail to provide him, before Wednesday, a copy of the directive they received from the party president.
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