Namibia Fact Check warns of foreign influence and smear campaigns targeting Itula ahead of elections

… IPC blames Swapo for fake news; Nekongo says IPC must grow up

Namibia Fact Check has expressed concern over recent social media attacks targeting opposition presidential candidate Panduleni Itula, along with the possiblility of foreign influence being at play.

“The upsurge in the smears against a certain opposition presidential candidate is highly concerning, especially as it appears there’s a foreign influence operation possibly at play,” Namibia Fact Check editor Frederico Links said yesterday.

“We’re definitely entering a dangerous phase in our politics if foreign actors are working to undermine Namibia’s electoral democracy,” he said.

Namibian political parties have in the past raised concerns about the involvement of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) in Namibian affairs, which Zimbabwe’s ruling party has denied.

Links said the latest smear campaign is a trend from other African countries.

“The use of information manipulation campaigns and social media abuse have now become a feature of Namibia’s online election landscape,” he said.

Links said electoral authorities need to issue a warning to parties to rein in their members and supporters, “as this could derail trust in democratic elections going forward”.

This is not the first time Namibia Fact Check has raised red flags about deliberate campaigns aimed at discrediting Itula.

In May this year, the organisation produced a report titled ‘Spotting a Political Smear Campaign’.

In the report, the organisation said: “In Namibia, over the last few months it has become apparent that there is a concerted and coordinated smear campaign underway aimed at the leader of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), Panduleni Itula.”

“While Itula has been subjected to personal attacks recently, the main tactic of the smear campaign against him is to label him an ‘imperialist puppet’, representing foreign interests wanting to engineer regime change in Namibia. This effort has used videos and voice-notes to spread and repeat its narrative via social media and messaging platforms through anonymously generated content,” it added.

Namibia Fact Check said in early July, the ‘Itula-is-a-British-agent’ smear was taken further with the emergence and amplification on social media of what appears to be a fake letter alleging that the IPC is funded by the British government and is promoting a British agenda and commercial interests in Namibia.

“Against this backdrop, it is important for Namibians to understand what a smear campaign is and how to recognise when such a campaign is being used to influence Namibian elections,” Namibia Fact Check said.

BLAME

The IPC has blamed Swapo for spreading fake news and misinformation on social media to taint the party.

IPC spokesperson Immanuel Nashinge accused the ruling party of even using The Namibian’s logo to spread fake news.

According to Nashinge, although the party was subjected to fake news, this has not affected its image or its campaign trails.

“Those who used money to pay amateur internet assassins to attack the IPC wasted their money. They are actually encouraging many to vote for the IPC. They are strengthening the IPC brand.”

Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) secretary Ephraim Nekongo says Nashinge “must grow up” as he has created a lot of pages on social media to discredit his own party and pretended that it was Swapo.

“Swapo is a credible organisation and will never indulge in propaganda. People have rejected the IPC and are going to vote for Swapo. Shame on them! Their propaganda has failed,” Nekongo claims.

FAKE NEWS ON STEROIDS

In October, fake news was spread about Swapo presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, indicating that she was selling the port of Walvis Bay to China.

The fake information contained by ‘Deep Intelligence’ also suggested that Nandi-Ndaitwah is 82 years old, when she is in fact 72 years old.

Again in October, there was an audio clip, purportedly of Landless Peoples Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi making derogatory and tribalist statements about Itula.

The LPM at the time said the audio was fake.

“This is an attempt to tarnish the reputations of both the LPM and IPC leadership,” the party said in a media statement.

Last month, reports surfaced that Nandi-Ndaitwah had fainted at a Swapo rally at Otjiwarongo.

Subsequent to this report, an artificial intelligence-generated image supposedly depicting the Nandi-Ndaitwah collapsing circulated on social media.

Last week, social media was flooded with a false report claiming founding president Sam Nujoma had endorsed the IPC.

The Sam Nujoma Foundation debunked this, saying Nujoma’s image was being abused for political propaganda and electioneering purposes.

“We urge the public to remain vigilant and not fall prey to such deceptive tactics aimed at spreading misinformation, and to the extent tarnish the image of the founding president,” it said in a statement.

About a week ago, a post also alleged that Affirmative Repositioning had endorsed Itula.

‘UNDERMINING DEMOCRACY’

Political commentator Ndumba Kamwanyah says the prevalence of fake news undermines public trust in electoral institutions and the democratic process.

“It creates confusion, fuels scepticism, and erodes confidence in the fairness and legitimacy of elections,” he says.
He says when voters base their decisions on misinformation, the integrity of democracy is at risk.

“Over time, this trend could foster cynicism about politics, diminish accountability and create a society where truth becomes irrelevant in public discourse,” he says.

Political analyst Henning Melber says misinformation was already a deliberate strategy for the first elections under the United Nations’ supervision.

“This did not prevent people from voting for the ‘terrorists’,” he says.

Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) spokesperson De Wet Siluka says fake news has also been spread about the electoral body, but that the ECN has been continuously flagging it.

“Fake news is very prevalent and we always refute it, as some people do it to confuse and instigate the public, but we are monitoring it,” he says.

The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation on Friday reported that ECN chairperson Elsie Nghikembua said addressing fake news, disinformation and misinformation should be prioritised.

She said this phenomenon has become one of the biggest challenges in managing elections.

“With increased access to social media and other platforms, people can present to the public discourse any material that is not true or verified . . . you need to scan and take it only from reliable sources.

“If you receive information, please do not pass it on unless you have verified it. We all have a responsibility to stop the spread of fake news,” Nghikembua said.

Popular Democratic Movement spokesperson Geoffrey Mwilima says his party is not a victim of fake news as people know the record of the its presidential candidate – both in parliament and society.