{"id":24092,"date":"2022-07-05T12:45:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T12:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table"},"modified":"2022-07-05T13:04:59","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:04:59","slug":"swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table","title":{"rendered":"Swapo youth demand seat at main table"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Several young Swapo members between the age of 18 and 35 are demanding a seat at the decision-making table based on competency as opposed to being a mere \u201cyes, man and yes, woman\u201d, through elections or appointment.<\/p>\n

This position was ventilated by several Swapo young turks who attended the just ended policy conference over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Their proposals will form part of a final policy dossier that will make its way to that party\u2019s elective congress later this year.<\/p>\n

The two-day conference kicked off on Friday to steer the party\u2019s policies and lay a foundation for the intraparty elections.<\/p>\n

At least 600 Swapo loyalists attended the event.<\/p>\n

A thorny issue that surfaced on Saturday is what has come to be known as the \u2018Helmut amendments\u2019, the alterations to Swapo\u2019s constitution proposed by party stalwart Helmut Angula back in 2018.<\/p>\n

According to the amendments, aspirants for the party\u2019s presidency, vice president, secretary general (SG) and deputy SG positions must have served 10 \u201cpersistent and consistent years\u201d in the central committee (CC) and should have been a party member for not less than 20 uninterrupted years.<\/p>\n

At the time, the amendments were seen to be bona fide, as many believed they were guarding the party against infiltration by opportunists whose only desire is to vie for political office for self-gain, at the expense of Swapo\u2019s ideology.<\/p>\n

Things are different now as many young people who have risen through the structures of the movement feel left out.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur position is that the constitution must be amended to include the number of years one has been in the youth league central committee because it is the equivalent of the mother body\u2019s CC,\u201d a source said.<\/p>\n

Also, among those who relentlessly pushed for the youth agenda was Willem Amutenya, one of the few vocal members of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) central committee.<\/p>\n

Amutenya is the SPYL secretary of labour and justice.<\/p>\n

When New Era contacted Amutenya to solicit comment on Sunday, he was in a jovial mood, saying for the first time in a very long time, youth matters took centre stage at a high level Swapo event, \u201cAnd the elders listened\u201d.<\/p>\n

Overall, he was also impressed by the representation of young people at the session.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conference was surely very successful to us as the youth. We had enough representation. Our voice was heard. We can confirm that aspects of social, economic and political were addressed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Amutenya then took time to thank Swapo chief administrator Sophia Shaningwa, for organising an inclusive event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must thank comrade Shaningwa, our SG, for inviting comrades from other factions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Amutenya then delved deep into their proposition as young Swapo members.<\/p>\n

During the sessions, New Era understands, young people grouped themselves strategically to ensure they had a voice in all key thematic issues.<\/p>\n

The issues ranged from employment creation, Namibia\u2019s oil and gas sector, the hyped green hydrogen project, housing and economic recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about young people, we are refering to Swapo members between 18 and 35. We are not talking about anyone. You can\u2019t be 50 and still consider yourself as a youth. Our party has been silent about this,\u201d said another source.<\/p>\n

At present, young Swapo members feel hard done by as senior party cadres make it to parliament and Cabinet due to their numerical advantage and not competency, hence the call for a quarter reservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must have a quarter of youth representation within decision making based on capacity. We must be appointed as ministers and sent to diplomatic missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, Swapo CC member and deputy foreign affairs minister, Jenelly Matundu heaped praise on their policy convention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe policy conference went well and ended in a unifying spirit,\u201d Matundu 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. Several young Swapo members between the age of 18 and 35 are demanding a seat at the decision-making table based on competency as opposed to being a mere \u201cyes, man and yes, woman\u201d, through elections or appointment. This position was ventilated by several Swapo young turks who attended the just ended policy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-24092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nSwapo youth demand seat at main table - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Several young Swapo members between the age of 18 and 35 are demanding a seat at the decision-making table based on comp ...\" \/>\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-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swapo youth demand seat at main table\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several young Swapo members between the age of 18 and 35 are demanding a seat at the decision-making table based on comp ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table\" \/>\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=\"2022-07-05T12:45:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-05T13:04:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_4-62c436eae724c.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"453\" \/>\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-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Swapo youth demand seat at main table\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-05T12:45:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-05T13:04:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table\"},\"wordCount\":641,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_4-62c436eae724c.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-youth-demand-seat-at-main-table\",\"name\":\"Swapo youth demand seat at main table - 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