{"id":24137,"date":"2022-07-05T12:58:22","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T12:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt"},"modified":"2022-07-05T13:10:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:10:47","slug":"swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt","title":{"rendered":"‘Swapo alone did not bring independence’ … Itula says his party will take over Govt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says Swapo alone did not bring independence to Namibia, but that it came about through a negotiated settlement.<\/b><\/p>\n

The opposition leader said all Namibians, especially those who were imprisoned, those who were in the bushes as freedom fighters, and those who mobilised against apartheid, are all contributors to the country’s independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must remember too that there was Swapo of Namibia, which is a distinct liberation movement that I was a member of, but that movement is completely legally and otherwise different from the Swapo party,\u201d said Itula while speaking at an IPC rally at Rundu on Saturday, where he also said he is confident his party will take over the government in the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly elections.<\/p>\n

Itula said the current governing party, Swapo, has left Namibians living in deplorable conditions since independence, hence change is inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Swapo of Namibia, there were no looters, in Swapo of Namibia there were no corrupt individuals, but today we are inundated with corrupt members of the leadership of the Swapo party,\u201d Itula said.<\/p>\n

He urged Namibians to vote for change for a better future for their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all came to the Constituent Assembly as Namibian representatives and decided on one thing \u2013 the Constitution \u2013 how we will be governed in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Itula, no single party in the Constituent Assembly can claim to have brought about the Constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere can certainly be no party that could claim to be the champion of democracy in this country. At the dawn of independence, when that Constitution was accepted, Namibians brought about the independence that we enjoy today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot start claiming poverty, unemployment, lack of schools, lack of proper hospitals and yet we don’t want to change the way that party rules this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itula also said true freedom fighters have been forgotten because those who were enjoying fish and chips in New York and London are now claiming to have fought for the country’s independence.<\/p>\n

According to Itula, those who were carrying briefcases and enjoying fish and chips are demanding that buildings and streets to be named after them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey dictate to be remembered. They are the ones receiving obscene salaries. The president of Namibia gets N$150 000 per month while a fisherman in Walvis Bay gets N$3 000 per month,\u201d Itula said, adding that the president earns the equivalent of salaries of 50 fishermen in one month.<\/p>\n

Swapo spokesperson Hilma Nicanor was not available to give comment, however, Swapo veteran Nahas Angula said the so-called negotiated settlement would not have come about if freedom fighters simply folded their arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of those things are just political talks. Just ignore them. People lost lives, limbs, properties and some went to prisons, including Robben Island or Osire… Swapo persevered. Modern politicians should not overlook these sacrifices. Namibian sacrifices should be honoured. To whoever wants to impress people, because you are talking to the born frees who were not there when the liberation was heavy. It’s cheap politics,\u201d Angula said.<\/p>\n

CLOSE SHAVE GEINGOB<\/p>\n

President Hage Geingob won the November 2019 presidential election with 56% of the vote, while Itula, who stood as Namibia’s first independent presidential candidate, received 29% in the country’s tightest presidential race since independence in 1990.<\/p>\n

Itula and four opposition party leaders challenged the result in the Supreme Court, urging the court to declare the election results invalid and order a fresh vote. They argued that the use of electronic voting machines without a paper trail effectively meant a key means of checks and balances was missing.<\/p>\n

Although the court did rule that the Electoral Act does not allow the use of EVMs without a verifiable paper trail it did not set aside the presidential election result.<\/p>\n

Swapo’s vote plummeted from 80% in 2014 to 65% in 2019. At the time, the IPC had not yet been birthed.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Namibia. INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says Swapo alone did not bring independence to Namibia, but that it came about through a negotiated settlement. The opposition leader said all Namibians, especially those who were imprisoned, those who were in the bushes as freedom fighters, and those who mobilised against apartheid, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,10,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-24137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-parties","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\n'Swapo alone did not bring independence' ... Itula says his party will take over Govt - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says Swapo alone did not bring independence to Namibia, ...\" \/>\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-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Swapo alone did not bring independence' ... Itula says his party will take over Govt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says Swapo alone did not bring independence to Namibia, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt\" \/>\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=\"2022-07-05T12:58:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-05T13:10:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\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-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"‘Swapo alone did not bring independence’ … Itula says his party will take over Govt\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-05T12:58:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-05T13:10:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt\"},\"wordCount\":674,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"parties\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt\",\"name\":\"'Swapo alone did not bring independence' ... Itula says his party will take over Govt - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-05T12:58:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-05T13:10:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says Swapo alone did not bring independence to Namibia, ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":960,\"caption\":\"'Swapo alone did not bring independence' ... Itula says his party will take over Govt\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘Swapo alone did not bring independence’ … Itula says his party will take over Govt\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Swapo alone did not bring independence' ... Itula says his party will take over Govt - Namibia","description":"INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says Swapo alone did not bring independence to Namibia, ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'Swapo alone did not bring independence' ... Itula says his party will take over Govt","og_description":"INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says Swapo alone did not bring independence to Namibia, ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-07-05T12:58:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-05T13:10:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":960,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"‘Swapo alone did not bring independence’ … Itula says his party will take over Govt","datePublished":"2022-07-05T12:58:22+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-05T13:10:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt"},"wordCount":674,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","parties","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt","name":"'Swapo alone did not bring independence' ... Itula says his party will take over Govt - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg","datePublished":"2022-07-05T12:58:22+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-05T13:10:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says Swapo alone did not bring independence to Namibia, ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_19-62c43845e166c.jpg","width":720,"height":960,"caption":"'Swapo alone did not bring independence' ... Itula says his party will take over Govt"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapo-alone-did-not-bring-independence-itula-says-his-party-will-take-over-govt#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘Swapo alone did not bring independence’ … Itula says his party will take over Govt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}