By: Ludorf Iyambo
PDM Secretary-General Manuel Ngaringombe says that people were being told who to vote for based on their tribe during the 2020 local authority elections.
Although PDM did well in the national assembly elections of 2019, which saw the party getting 16 seats in parliament, the PDM performed poorly in the 2020 local authority elections. The elections saw the party losing much of its council seats to LPM and IPC, despite the elections being the latter two’s maiden participation. Ngaringombe said the 2020 local authority elections were tribal and regional elections.
The official opposition SG made these remarks at the launch of the party’s official 2024 election slogan.
“People were told if you are a Nama in the south vote for what-what. If you are a Wambo in the north, ‘it is time for the Ondonga people to rule, vote for us. We are now saying, don’t vote for PDM because the SG is a Herero. Vote PDM because of what we can deliver. Don’t vote us on regional, tribal or race reasons,” said Ngaringombe.
He said PDM has run Opuwo town successfully, and it’s only the town that does not have issues in the country. He further said where PDM is governing with others, such as Kamanjab, there are visible changes.
According to him, Grootfontein is collapsing because Swapo “knows what they have done.”
“If they give us a chance, we will run Grootfontein,” said Ngaringombe. Moreover, he said the central government does not want Windhoek to be governed successfully.
The LPM spokesperson Eneas Emvula told The Villager what Ngaringombe said was irresponsible and utter nonsense. “It is unacceptable, and hopefully, Venani will call him to order. I am an Oshiwambo speaking person, and by saying LPM is a tribal or regional party, I would not get it. I am not a Nama, and we have a lot of staff members who are not of Nama origins. He should have restructured his statement. It is a wrong statement and very discriminatory,” said Emvula.
Meanwhile, Ngaringombe also said it is a mockery to Christian beliefs for prime minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila to say that Swapo will rule until Jesus returns.
Kuugongelwa last month, during the ruling party’s 62nd birthday anniversary at Okatana near Oshakati, urged supporters not to allow Swapo to be defeated until Jesus comes back.
“The coming of the Messiah cannot be determined by Swapo. Swapo will fall very soon, and that will not wait for Jesus to come. Swapo does not need Jesus; they are just supposed to save Namibia’s people. Swapo is the only curse that Namibian has,” said Ngaringombe.
Ngaringombe also asked Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and the Swapo SG Sophia Shaningwa, who, last week, said that there was no infrastructure in the country before Swapo took over government, to withdraw their statement.
“There was nothing before Swapo. It was dusty, only one tarred road,’ Shaningwa had said.
“To say that was nothing before Swapo is true. Namibia was maybe under a colonial regime, but there was some infrastructure in this country. All that the Swapo government could do was destroy those infrastructures, and secondly, whatever they had built, they destroyed it. Our children are suffering. The fishermen in Walvis Bay are still suffering.”
He said PDM is an alternative party with political dexterity and maturity to take power from the Swapo government in the 2024 Presidential and national assembly elections.
Ngaringombe said PDM has proved to the Namibian people that they can do better than the current government.
“We are calling the Namibian people to give us a chance. If you give us a chance, we will make sure we lead this government not by ourselves but with Namibia people,” he said.
