‘Swanu in revival stage’

The acting president of the Swanu Youth League, Mbango Nandova, has denounced claims that the oldest political formation in Namibia has become dormant and silent.

He says the party is in a “revival stage”.

Nandova said this in an interview with Desert Radio yesterday, as the party celebrates its 64th birthday, following its formation on 27 September, 1959.

“We may not have been engaging the media that much, but we are in touch with the people on the ground,” he said.

Nandova said the party has opted for this approach because the bulk of its people are either illiterate or distracted by their suffering, and do not listen to the radio or read newspapers that much.

‘BAD MARKETING’

He said Swanu is still at the forefront of Namibian politics.

This is not reflected in the party’s performance at the polls at which it received 6 354 votes, which was 0,71% of the total number of votes in 2014.

This translated into one parliamentary seat.

In 2019, the party again scored only one seat, having garnered 0,65% of the total number of votes.

Nandova attributed this performance to bad marketing.

“It [the ideology] was probably not well marketed to the Namibian people, but now that the masses are seeing what is happening [in governance] they are aware that Swanu is where they should have been all along,” he said.

He said more and more new members are being recruited.

“I can safely say the recruitment process is going well,” he said.

Having been established as a unifying force for all Namibians, the Swanu of today is faced with some form of division – one side headed by Evalistus Kaaronda and the other by Charles Katjivirue.

The youth leader, however, does not see this as a problem going into the 2024 polls.

“If they are saying they are the legitimate leaders of the party, we are going to wait for the courts to decide. The matter is before the courts,” he said, further maintaining that “there is an order that already stated that Kaaronda is the rightful president of the party”.

Nandova said the biggest highlight of the party in the last 64 years is its tenacity and ability to withstand pressure from external forces to divert its socialist agenda “towards western imperialism”.

He said the party is now on a deliberate drive to fortify its youth wing.

“The congress is in November and we are planning to establish a decentralised leadership which will enable them to act on party matters swiftly and on location,” he said.

GOING TO PARLIAMENT

The Namibian also spoke to a former president of Swanu, Rihupisa Kandando, to establish when the party’s current leaders would join the parliament, and whether it would be Katjivirue or Kaaronda.

“The Electoral Act made provision for only people who are on the party list. Iyambo can only be replaced by someone who is on the November 2019 parliamentary list.

“All of us are hopeful that there will be an amicable solution to what I call the internal chemistry within Swanu so that things can be sorted out.”
His assertion eliminates the Kaaronda faction’s aspirations in light of the fact that he only joined the party in 2021.

Before ascending to the presidency, Kaaronda served as the party’s secretary general.