As the build-up towards the November 2020 local authority and regional elections gather momentum, Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader Job Amupanda has said his team is not poor enough to fail to fund themselves.
Journalists wanted to find our AR’s source of funding this week at a press conference where Amupanda said they will be contesting in the upcoming polls.
“We are self-established, we are self-directing and self-defining. We are not poor people, we are not unemployed people. Whereas some people use their money on alcohol, women, men and other things, we don’t spend our money on alcohol.
We don’t spend our money on cigarettes, we spend our money on our movement. One of the basic methods of funding AR movement has been ourselves. Remember we used to sell our T-Shirts. In 2014 we published a book Truth is Truth. We had a launch in Walvis Bay, we had a launch in Windhoek we had a launch in Ongwediva. I could have gone and bought a car with proceeds from Truth is Truth. We took N$100 000 from the proceeds to pay for office space in Eros. We took all that money and paid for the whole year,” he said.
The AR has also of late been criticised for being lukewarm on the Fishrot scandal.
Some on social media have connected Amupanda to prominent lawyer Sisa Namandje who has been embroiled in the scandal.
“If you are an activist you need to be very careful and tactful. When Sacky sued me for N$500 000 it was all over the front pages of the newspapers and they were saying yea these boys talk too much. We fought that battle.
Sacky introduced an interlocutory where they had two advocates to challenge the plea. There was no single contribution from all these people who are talking. We even spoke about and against corruption when it was not even fashionable to do so. When there was no clear evidence to do so.
Now all of a sudden Al Jazeera has unravelled exactly what we have been saying over the years. If we were found guilty at court at that time it was going to send a chilling effect to all activists. We don’t think we owe people an explanation in terms of our strategies,” said Amupanda.
The AR has in the meantime opened a line through which sympathisers and supporters can send through their money to bankroll the movement.
Amupanda says they fund AR as members
