By Kelvin Chiringa
As the dust towards much anticipated regional council and local authority elections rise up, official opposition leader, McHenry Venaani of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has said it is not easy to simply arrest Angolan nationals who are voting in Namibia.
Venaani has this week stirred mixed relations after he declared that his investigations on the Nam/Angolan border have established that 100 000 people are coming from Angola with voters’ cards to cast their votes in every election here in Namibia.
He said the border post of Oshikango has become notorious with these foreign voters.
“The borders are clearly open for them to come and vote. These are thousands and thousands of southern Angolans that are voting in this country. So, what we need is conscious leadership. And then the conscious question is how is it possible that someone who is 70 years of age can not get an identification document in Namibia, does not have a birth certificate, does not have any documentation but that person has a voter’s card? That tells a story!” he said.
Venaani has pointed a dirty finger At Swapo accusing it of leveraging in foreign votes to win elections but said it is not easy to arrest those breaking the law.
He said every election between seven to 10 trucks hit the road into Angola and bring people to vote.
This is after journalists asked whether he had opened a case with the Namibian police.
But some are already quizzing why the opposition frontman is raising the alarm now when all the time he has been at parliament.
While others have opined that now is the time to deal with the issue, some sections of society have accused Venaani of political grandstanding.
The issue of Angolans voting in Namibia is not new.
