Opposition parties told to play politics as they see it

Landless People’s Movement leader Bernadus Swartbooi has told opposition parties to play politics as they see it for the betterment of the masses.

He was speaking on Saturday during the party’s fourth national convention conference at parliament.

The convention is the second highest decision-making body of the party and aims to restructure the party and adopt strategic plans to ready the party in terms of policies and political cycle amid the upcoming regional and local authority elections.

“Oppositions or not, you got to play the politics as you see it and not as you imagine it,” said Swartbooi.

He was referring to Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) president Panduleni Itula’s rejection of the leader of the official opposition position.

Swartbooi said if some of the opposition parties do not have the willingness to interpret and see politics as it is, he foresees eventual challenges. He added that the parliament may have a five-year period without a leader of the official opposition.

It is his hope that the opposition parties remain united so they can forcefully articulate the interests of the people for the next five years.

“If we do not, society will end up suffering. Because whichever gender takes over, as long as that person is from Swapo, nothing changes,” he said. Swartbooi urged party members to remain rhetoric and demand policies that align with what the industry needs.

Political analyst Sakaria Johannes has, however, a different opinion on the matter. He says Itula is not wrong to reject the position as it does not exist in the Constitution.

“I think people should understand what IPC wants and should stop accusing Itula for rejecting the leader of the official opposition. Itula simply wants the rule of law to prevail and for Namibia to do things as per it’s Constitution,” he says.

Johannes argues that there is no information on the office of the opposition and what it does.

“It is interesting to hear Swartbooi say the opposition must be smart enough to use the process to their advantage. Are they working for their own political advantage or to serve the Namibian people?” he asks.

He says politicians should not do things to benefit themselves but rather do things for the people who voted for them. Johannes pointes out that Article 32, subarticle 7, talks about the president establishing the office of the official opposition.

“It’s no more a rule of law but a rule of man, and all those who are talking about it’s not an issue, they simply want to follow the rule of man,” Johannes says.

He says in the same way the Constitution was amended to create the position of vice president, he believes Itula wants the same approach for the leader of the official opposition, only then would he accept it as it will be in line with the Constitution.

Johannes believes Itula does not want to occupy an office that is not legally recognised.

He adds that it is high time Namibians stop ‘going with the flow’ even when it is wrong, and start challenging and bring about an end to illegal systems.