First the long knives were out for him, now they are willing to fall on their swords and die for him: Namibia’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba must be a little confused about who his friends or foes are in Namibia’s ruling Swapo party.
With national and presidential elections due at the end of this year, personal ambitions among some of Pohamba’s underlings are now causing cracks in the ruling party’s veneer of invincibility.
Two leading local daily newspapers have reported that an upset Pohamba confronted his comrades at Swapo’s most recent Politburo meeting and demanded that those who wanted him to step down should declare so openly.
The normally gentle Pohamba reportedly lashed out furiously at several youth and union leaders by name, accusing them of being the tail that was trying to wag the dog.
At a tense 10-hour meeting, Pohamba is reported to have threatened to step down, should the ”irresponsible behaviour” of the junior cadres continue.
Pohamba was also indirectly pointing a finger at some of his Swapo Politburo colleagues for encouraging political taunts from the party’s junior wing and allowing it to raise questions about his ability to govern.
Swapo felt compelled to issue a statement the following day officially reaffirming that Pohamba is its presidential candidate. At a press conference called to disavow the newspaper reports, party publicity secretary Jerry Ekandjo denied that either he or Trade and Industry Minister Hage Geingob had any designs on Pohamba’s job.
Nonetheless, that there is a struggle for control of the heart of the party between the so-called Tanga Group and the young Turks brought in under former president Sam Nujoma’s tutelage is all but an open secret.
Pohamba, who initially resisted Nujoma’s push for him to take over in 2004, has since presided over the emergence of the Rally for Democracy and Progress, a break-away faction of Swapo led by former foreign affairs minister Hidipo Hamutenya.
The resulting witch-hunt against Hamutenya and his supporters has damaged Swapo’s air of invincibility, although there is little chance that the party could actually lose the next elections, according to the latest Afrobarometer survey.
Pohamba’s initially strong anti-corruption stance has also made him powerful enemies, especially among Nujoma’s former protégés, analysts said.
Pohamba has come under increasingly open criticism from the right wing of the party.
Most of this criticism has emanated from Nujoma’s appointees, none of whom can claim to have true struggle credentials and who are often accused of being careerist and materialistic. Many of them — especially the unionists — are recent defectors from opposition political parties.