Political Perspective

SO much for Swapo’s show of unity! Clearly all is not well even though Swapo’s president-designate, Hifikepunye Pohamba, was at pains to assure the world at a press conference recently that the ruling party was more united than ever before.

While Minister-out-in-the-cold Hidipo Hamutenya was present at the staged event, he was clearly not impressed and a reluctant participant in what was evidently a fake show of camaraderie. OF course it was good that Pohamba called for an end to ‘dirty tricks’, promises of jobs and other forms of intimidation that preceded the Extraordinary Congress vote on Swapo’s presidential candidate; and nice that he acknowledged them.But it would have been preferable had the President exercised restraint and not allowed it all to happen in the first place! For there is little doubt that his ousting of Foreign Affairs Minister Hamutenya and his deputy just prior to the Congress escalated the ugliness.Possibly, Pohamba’s rapprochement effort might have met with more success if the President had left the three candidates to campaign undeterred from equal platforms and without so obviously taking sides as he did.Papering over the cracks won’t help now.Despite Pohamba’s appeal, it is clear that feelings won’t die down that quickly.Hamutenya himself has lost his job, and not because he didn’t do it justice, but because he was a contender for the presidential crown.There are obvious concerns that the knives are out for those who supported Hamutenya, and hopefully this will be disproved in the course of time as it would be absolutely unacceptable if retribution became the order of the day simply because people exercised their democratic rights.Hamutenya in turn lost his security almost overnight, while Pohamba now has himself a motorcade! Pohamba may call for an end to ‘dirty tricks’, but one wonders if all the deals haven’t been done already.That former Prime Minister Hage Geingob aligned himself so openly with the President’s choice is strange, given he himself got the boot not too long ago.Talk of a vice presidency under a Pohamba Government may not be that far-fetched though, given Geingob’s ambitions and a previous congress where Nujoma tried (unsuccessfully) to put him forward as his candidate of choice.So if Swapo really wanted to reinstate unity in the Party, they’d need to tackle the issue of the unequal treatment meted out to the three candidates.Pohamba gets the prize and a motorcade, and goodness knows what else; Nahas Angula went along for the ride, and is now regarded with indulgence as a younger cadre who can have a crack at it again in time and he’s still smiling; while Hamutenya is out in the cold (with the healthy pension that they all get, mind you!) and probably constantly under the watchful scrutiny of our not-always-so-intelligent services while he ponders his future! Then there’s further evidence of disunity, with Swapo MPs sniggering in Parliament when CoD members praise the former Foreign Minister for coming up with a white paper.(Can’t share the CoD accolades myself, as Hamutenya may have finished the white paper, but he didn’t start it all those years ago, and at a cursory glance it all looks a bit wishy-washy to me).But nevertheless it shows how quickly the tide can turn against one who was formerly a trusted comrade! How fickle Namibians can sometimes be.Nevertheless, there’s one ray of light, if the rumours are true that another Minister turned down the offer of Foreign Affairs, probably because he didn’t want to capitalise on Hamutenya’s demise.Particularly since that Minister himself had been on the receiving end of the axe once before! Nice to know there’s some principle left somewhere.But unity there is not.And the problem lies not so much in the fact that there’s division (for that’s the natural order of things) but in the way Swapo is trying to pretend they’re still all one happy family! Not so, as time will undoubtedly tell.OF course it was good that Pohamba called for an end to ‘dirty tricks’, promises of jobs and other forms of intimidation that preceded the Extraordinary Congress vote on Swapo’s presidential candidate; and nice that he acknowledged them.But it would have been preferable had the President exercised restraint and not allowed it all to happen in the first place! For there is little doubt that his ousting of Foreign Affairs Minister Hamutenya and his deputy just prior to the Congress escalated the ugliness.Possibly, Pohamba’s rapprochement effort might have met with more success if the President had left the three candidates to campaign undeterred from equal platforms and without so obviously taking sides as he did.Papering over the cracks won’t help now.Despite Pohamba’s appeal, it is clear that feelings won’t die down that quickly.Hamutenya himself has lost his job, and not because he didn’t do it justice, but because he was a contender for the presidential crown.There are obvious concerns that the knives are out for those who supported Hamutenya, and hopefully this will be disproved in the course of time as it would be absolutely unacceptable if retribution became the order of the day simply because people exercised their democratic rights.Hamutenya in turn lost his security almost overnight, while Pohamba now has himself a motorcade! Pohamba may call for an end to ‘dirty tricks’, but one wonders if all the deals haven’t been done already.That former Prime Minister Hage Geingob aligned himself so openly with the President’s choice is strange, given he himself got the boot not too long ago.Talk of a vice presidency under a Pohamba Government may not be that far-fetched though, given Geingob’s ambitions and a previous congress where Nujoma tried (unsuccessfully) to put him forward as his candidate of choice.So if Swapo really wanted to reinstate unity in the Party, they’d need to tackle the issue of the unequal treatment meted out to the three candidates.Pohamba gets the prize and a motorcade, and goodness knows what else; Nahas Angula went along for the ride, and is now regarded with indulgence as a younger cadre who can have a crack at it again in time and he’s still smiling; while Hamutenya is out in the cold (with the healthy pension that they all get, mind you!) and probably constantly under the watchful scrutiny of our not-always-so-intelligent services while he ponders his future! Then there’s further evidence of disunity, with Swapo MPs sniggering in Parliament when CoD members praise the former Foreign Minister for coming up with a white paper.(Can’t share the CoD accolades myself, as Hamutenya may have finished the white paper, but he didn’t start it all those years ago, and at a cursory glance it all looks a bit wishy-washy to me).But nevertheless it shows how quickly the tide can turn against one who was formerly a trusted comrade! How fickle Namibians can sometimes be.Nevertheless, there’s one ray of light, if the rumours are true that another Minister turned down the offer of Foreign Affairs, probably because he didn’t want to capitalise on Hamutenya’s demise.Particularly since that Minister himself had been on the receiving end of the axe once before! Nice to know there’s some principle left somewhere.But unity there is not.And the problem lies not so much in the fact that there’s division (for that’s the natural order of things) but in the way Swapo is trying to pretend they’re still all one happy family! Not so, as time will undoubtedly tell.