Angula challenges Geingob

FORMER Prime Minister Nahas Angula will be challenging President Hage Geingob for the Swapo presidency following a heated telephone conversation between the two last week.

Angula’s decision will pit the two Swapo stalwarts against each other at the ruling party’s congress next month, which could decide who will eventually become the country’s President after the 2019 national elections.

President Geingob announced on Friday that he had consulted senior party leaders on his choi­ces for party leadership positions to be decided at congress.

He said he had also consulted former Presidents Sam Nujoma and Hifikepunye Pohamba, as well as Angula.

Angula confirmed to on Saturday that Geingob had called him last Wednesday, between 17h00 and 18h00, two days before Geingob informed the Swapo politburo that he had finalised his list of candidates for the party leadership.

Angula said Geingob told him that he had picked deputy prime minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah for Swapo’s vice president, urban and rural development minister Sophia Shaningwa for secretary general and former deputy prime minister Marco Hausiku for deputy secretary general.

Angula said he was not impressed by Geingob’s choices.

“I told him it’s fine, it’s his decision, but I do not support it. There is a tradition in Swapo to follow the pecking order when selecting leaders. He violated that tradition,” Angula said.

Angula also claimed that he decided to run against Geingob because senior party leaders were being sidelined.

“You cannot go around and sideline people who have been in the party for many years,” he said.

“I made the decision to run after the phone call,” he said, adding that “I am available to compete for positions, including the presidency”.

People close to the President’s campaign said Angula had wanted to run for Swapo’s vice presidency on Geingob’s ticket at the upcoming congress, but his plans were dashed last week when Geingob picked Nandi-Ndaitwah.

According to Angula, Geingob “was hiding” behind the 50/50 gender rule, which obligates the party to follow a zebra-list system of men and women for key positions.

Angula also disagreed with Geingob’s selection of Shaningwa for the secretary general position because she only became a politburo member last week.

A Geingob supporter with knowledge of the telephonic confrontation said Angula threatened Geingob, but Angula denied this, saying “I have no reason to threaten him”.

Over the years, Angula has demonstrated ambivalence about seriously challenging for the party presidency. Privately, many of his comrades have favoured him over the years for party president, but he has continuously and publicly declined such overtures.

For instance, Confidénte reported in February this year that Angula called for party leaders to support Geingob. He also criticised some youth leaders for dividing the party in the interest of self-enrichment.

Angula also told the Windhoek Observer last year that he was too old to run for party president.

Last year, he said: “I am 72-years-old now. Add 10 more years, and I will be 82, so why do I want to run for president at that age?”

Asked about such comments, Angula told over the weekend that the comments were meant to ensure unity in the party. “It was not the right time to declare my availability,” he said.

In order for him to stand for the presidency, Angula will have to be nominated at this week’s poliburo meeting, or at Sunday’s central committee meeting.

Angula’s decision to challenge Geingob comes 13 years after his failed bid to become party vice president at the 2004 extraordinary congress which elected Pohamba to the position, ensuring his eventual ascent to the country’s presidency in 2005. Pohamba appointed Angula his Prime Minister from 2005 to 2012.

However, following Angula’s recent announcement, some party leaders still remain skeptical, worrying that he might drop out at the last minute.

His supporters say he will follow through on his decision to challenge Geingob. “I’m not going to pull out. I am going until the end,” he said. Angula said he pulled out of the presidential race before the 2012 Swapo congress because he was advised to do so in order to allow senior leaders to compete.

His decision to challenge for the presidency could become another headache for Geingob’s campaign, which already faces a cabal of senior leaders looking to take charge of Swapo.

Geingob’s rivals appear to include youth minister Jerry Ekandjo and immigration minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, who could run for president and vice president.

Meanwhile, Geingob on Friday called on fellow party leaders to avoid engaging in dirty politics.

“Let me remind all cadres once again to play the ball, and not the man. Let us tackle the issues, and not the personalities,” he said at Friday’s politburo meeting.