{"id":19255,"date":"2022-05-12T15:35:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T15:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements"},"modified":"2022-05-12T15:47:13","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T15:47:13","slug":"swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements","title":{"rendered":"Swapo to relax party presidential requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>SWAPO could reduce the number of years a candidate needs to compete for top party positions, such as president and vice president.<\/b><\/p>\n

Some Swapo think tank members have suggested that the congress should be postponed to 2024 \u2013 a recommendation described by some as highly unpopular.<\/p>\n

Currently, a person who wants to be the Swapo president must be a party member for a minimum of 30 years, and should have served in the central committee and political bureau for 10 years.<\/p>\n

These requirements, known as the ‘Helmut amendments’ \u2013 named after former Cabinet minister Helmut Angula \u2013 were absorbed into the party’s constitution at the 2018 Swapo extraordinary congress.<\/p>\n

This was allegedly to keep opportunistic politicians from leading the party.<\/p>\n

Now, some party officials are said to be pushing for the amendments to be removed before the congress this year.<\/p>\n

People familiar with this matter say potential candidates who do not qualify under the current constitution could be nominated by the central committee and politburo \u2013 subject to the amendments being passed at the elective congress.<\/p>\n

Swapo spokesperson Hilma Nicanor this week said she was not aware of the proposed amendments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been no decision up to now to effect any changes to the Swapo constitution,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

There are allegedly talks within the ruling party, including its think tank, on how to remove the so-called ‘Helmut amendments’ from the constitution.<\/p>\n

The amendments have made it harder to qualify for being a candidate for the position of party president, vice-president, secretary general and deputy secretary general.<\/p>\n

A Swapo vice-president candidate should be a Namibian who has been a party member for at least 25 years and a minimum of 10 years in the central committee and political bureau.<\/p>\n

The secretary general should be Namibian, and have served 20 years in the party and 10 years in the central committee and political bureau.<\/p>\n

To be a deputy secretary general, one would need to have been in the party for 15 years and five years in the central committee and political bureau.<\/p>\n

Swapo’s political campaigns are set to intensify in the next months before party’s congress.<\/p>\n

Several candidates have been linked to the Swapo vice-president position in the past months.<\/p>\n

Whoever wins this job would represent Swapo at the 2024 national presidential elections to square off with politicians such as Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula, who has already launched his campaign for State House.<\/p>\n

In Swapo, incumbent party vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and prime minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila are currently tipped for the vice president position.<\/p>\n

President Hage Geingob has kept his cards close to his chest about who he wants to take over from him as the ruling party presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

Former president Hifikepunye Pohamba supports Nandi-Ndaitwah while former president Sam Nujoma trusts Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.<\/p>\n

New Era quoted Nujoma yesterday as saying Namibia should prepare for a woman president.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many other countries, they have women presidents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The amendments to the Swapo congress could increase the number of potential candidates who want to take over from Geingob as Swapo’s presidential candidate for the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n

Former Cabinet minister Helmut Angula yesterday said he has no qualms with the possible removal of the amendments named after him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not a personal thing. Those who are in charge can decide what they want to do. I hope they know what they are doing. I wish them well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Angula warned that removing the year’s limit could backfire, saying he has seen individuals in powerful positions who have jumped out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

Angula served in key influential positions such as deputy mines minister, fisheries minister and minister of agriculture, water and rural from 1996 to 2004.<\/p>\n

He is currently a businessman with an interest in key state-controlled sectors such as the solar, fishing, and oil industries.<\/p>\n

Angula shot down chances of running for top office again.<\/p>\n

He was one of the candidates who did not win the vice-president position at the 2017 congress.<\/p>\n

He said he was sidelined from the party because he was a straight talker.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people saw that I was a threat. They made sure I would not be near power,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. SWAPO could reduce the number of years a candidate needs to compete for top party positions, such as president and vice president. Some Swapo think tank members have suggested that the congress should be postponed to 2024 \u2013 a recommendation described by some as highly unpopular. Currently, a person who wants to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":19254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-19255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nSwapo to relax party presidential requirements - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SWAPO could reduce the number of years a candidate needs to compete for top party positions, such as president and vi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swapo to relax party presidential requirements\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SWAPO could reduce the number of years a candidate needs to compete for top party positions, such as president and vi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-12T15:35:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-12T15:47:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_18-627d2bf136449.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"249\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Swapo to relax party presidential requirements\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-12T15:35:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-12T15:47:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements\"},\"wordCount\":702,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_18-627d2bf136449.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-to-relax-party-presidential-requirements\",\"name\":\"Swapo to relax party presidential requirements - 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