Africa-Press – Namibia. VICE President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah recently criticised opposition parties and certain embassy representatives for what she perceives as “highly questionable” behaviour that could potentially endanger both the peaceful conduct of elections and the overall peace within the country.
The Vice President made these remarks at the Official Opening of the SWAPO Party Central Committee meeting, where she highlighted instances of verbal security threats directed at the SWAPO Party and the nation at large from some political parties. She added that one opposition party representative allegedly suggested dealing with SWAPO in a manner reminiscent of how SWAPO dealt with the colonial regime.
“By interpretation, that is directly calling for an act of war and military confrontation. We have also recently witnessed the beating up of our member during this campaign and the perpetrators were rewarded with money by a leader of a political party,” she said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah also criticised the German Embassy in Namibia for meeting with the leader of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) to discuss Namibia-European Union relations.
“The same embassy went further to say that a particular leader of the opposition is widely projected to be the next president of Namibia. What a diplomatic statement! What a diplomatic statement, particularly coming from a country with whom we still have a serious pending issue,” the Vice President said.
She explained that she does not believe that there is anything wrong with a diplomat meeting with leaders or members of opposition parties. However, she considers the discussion of state matters between the aforementioned parties to be “highly questionable diplomacy”.
“To discuss state matters and to be directly involved in internal politics is highly questionable diplomacy. By extension, these statements might suggest that there might be a strategy to interfere in our election. This statement has a whiff of an element of regime change,” she explained.
Nandi-Ndaitwah also highlighted that there have been reports suggesting that some political parties have hired foreign companies to run their election campaigns.
“If that is true, if you do not trust Namibians to run your campaign, how can you trust them to run the country with you? Comrades, fellow Namibians, for the sake of our country and its people, I am appealing to all of us that in the face of all this provocation, we must remain focused and true to our country and its people, and we will only be able to remain responsible to our country and its people if we are united against all detractors, being the only way we can safeguard our independence and sovereignty and continue to be relevant members of the international community,” she said.
The Vice President further cited the smooth transition of power from the late President Hage Geingob to President Nangolo Mbumba as evidence of Namibia’s mature democracy and emphasised that SWAPO is not only looking forward to a peaceful election but is ready for one.
“Of course, to the disappointment of some, the SWAPO Party is looking for a peaceful campaign as it has been the case over the years. The future generations deserve a peaceful, democratic, and developed Namibia, and the SWAPO Party is ready to deliver that,” the Vice President said.
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