As the ruling Swapo party braces for its reflective conference on the November 2019 polls, its senior cadre who is former Prime Minister, Nahas Angula, said the party will not be able to recognise itself in the mirror due to ideals that he says have evaporated.
Angula caught up with Eagle FM this week after penning one of his scathing pieces where he says the ideals of freedom, justice and solidarity are no more there.
He added that party stalwarts should be honest at the upcoming conference in order to reposition the party.
“I am saying that what has been the glue keeping us together as members are its (party) ideals, especially those of solidarity, justice and freedom. We normally call each other comrades, an expression of solidarity, as patriots fighting for common objectives. That is the culture we developed during the struggle. That ideal has been somehow violated. We call each other comrades because we are used to calling each other comrades. That is why the image of the party is no more there,” he said.
Angula submitted that the ideal of justice in the party means fairness, caring and sharing but he claims that high levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality have eroded that.
“There is no more justice because we are no more equal. There is a high level of social classes developing. The party has been captured by elites and I am one of them. We have access to resources but not ordinary members of Swapo. A person living in Havana, Kilimanjaro and other informal settlements is struggling to make ends meet.
We the elites live in the eastern part of Independence avenue and that is a special area of the well-to-do. When it comes to freedom, the notion of slate politics, of wanting to work with this one and not that one. You are violating democratic principles of giving people free choice to elect the best to lead the party. That ideal is violated by that concept of slate politics,” he said.
Angula said those attending this upcoming conference “must summon courage” to retrace footsteps back to the formative years when the ideals held meaning.
But Angula refused to comment on where he thought the party derailed from the course of its ideals.
“What I know is that the November elections have demonstrated that something has gone wrong in Swapo. I never imagined in my life that a Swapo member would go and vote for DTA (PDM). I hope comrades that will be there would be open and courageous enough and say let us do things differently so that we can return to our values,” he said.
Despite party president, Hage Geingob, having said recently that senior cadres should address matters from within, Angula said he will not be restrained from airing his views.
He did not, however, respond directly to the question as to whether he still had communication lines open with the party’s top-four.
“I do not need to be with the top four or anything like that as the Swapo constitution gives me the right to express my concerns, the same right President Hage Geingob has to go out there to say Swapo has not received any money,” he said.
Angula also countered Swapo’s SG, Sophia Shaningwa, who said their books are clean of Fishrot coins.
He said the strong suspicion with people is that “they are guilty”.
“Corrupt people know they are committing a crime; they will not record something which they know is a proceed of crime. Let us wait for the trial of the Fishrot to see whether people being accused acted behalf of Swapo or used their name to enrich themselves,” he said.
