Amushelelo is childish – NEFF

The deputy president of the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), Longinus Iipumbu, has dismissed former party member Michael Amushelelo’s statements about the party’s leadership.

Amushelelo has questioned the NEFF’s leadership abilities after it allegedly failed to submit audited financial reports to the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN).

Iipumbu says Amushelelo’s claim is “childish” and lacks substance.

The former NEFF member on Sunday posted on social media that the red berets have failed to submit audited financial statements since 2020.

“So, if they are failing at such a simple task, what about something complex such as governance?” he asked.

The ECN deregistered the NEFF last month for failing to publish its audited financial reports.

Amushelelo, who joined the party in March 2022, announced his resignation from the party earlier this month.

He has since joined the Landless People’s Movement.

In his post Amushelelo said: “Even if they [the NEFF] are re-registered I won’t go back.”

Amushelelo said the NEFF did not fight for the people before he joined the party.

“I was the one who was fighting for our people, I was the one who went to prison for our people,” he wrote.

Iipumbu yesterday said Amushelelo’s utterances were “useless” and “nonsense”.

He said the NEFF supported Amushelelo “even when he was doing things in a manner that everyone knows he was doing that on his own”.

“We don’t care whatever utterances he is making. We know he is not consistent. He is looking for greener pastures. This organisation is representing the working class and the poor …

“That’s how it opened up for him, and he was freely leaving, because our ideology is not hidden,” Iipumbu said. He said Amushelelo should not discredit the party now that it has been deregistered.

“For him to go out and say we cannot govern . . . I would say his utterances are so childish and everybody sees it.

“He was there, we tried to protect him, all his movements and way of doing things, even though we knew it was not in accordance with the law of the republic,” Iipumbu said. He said the party’s de-registration has been politicised and it will continue fighting to be re-registered.

Iipumbu further said the N$1 000 the party paid Mix settlement resident Moses Ndjene, who allegedly slapped Swapo branch coordinator Bonifatius Munango, was not a token of the party’s appreciation over the incident.

It was rather so that Ndjene could buy food.

“Suddenly he [Amushelelo] went on and said he is congratulating him [Ndjene] for slapping a corrupt person in the face. That was also wrong.

“That was not our stance. We said let’s go and make peace with this individual. He said he was hungry and tired. It was not in the sense of saying we are congratulating him [Ndjene] because he has done that,” Iipumbu said.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Amushelelo said: “You don’t always have to respond to everything said about you, so I am not going to respond. That’s my response.”