Swapo is likely to win a good majority in the Namibian elections despite disclosures of government spending on aircraft
NAMIBIAN President Sam Nujoma’s election standing has been damaged by revelations that he is splurging on purchases of aircraft, including an executive jet.
However most commentators believe the disclosures will not be enough to prevent Nujoma’s ruling party, Swapo, from winning more parliamentary seats in Namibia’s first post- independence election. Some believe the party may even win the two-thirds majority it needs to unilaterally rewrite the constitution.
Swapo was denied this objective in the 1990 independence poll, largely because of huge South African financial backing for the opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA).
Namibian officials were trying to avoid disclosure of the aircraft purchases until after the poll, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday this week. But it was confirmed on Wednesday that the Swapo administration has purchased a Lear jet and four Alouette helicopters.
The Namibian government’s taste for expensive aircraft has been a sore point in the country since controversy over its post-independence purchase of a Falcon intercontinental jet for Nujoma’s use. The new Lear jet is seemingly being funded by the sale of the government’s four propeller-drive aircraft, which are arguably more suited to Namibia’s rough terrain.
The DTA hopes to keep most of its 21 seats, but it no longer enjoys South African patronage. Political analyst Andre Pisani thinks that by failing to change its name and leadership, the party is struggling under the burden of its past.
Nujoma told thousands of voters at pre-election rallies that Swapo wanted to ”bury the opposition” and win all 72 parliamentary seats, which are being contested under the party-list system of proportional representation. Swapo won all the north’s council seats in the 1992 regional elections, the last electoral test of its performance.
Now it hopes to improve on the 58 percent of the national vote it won at independence.
Its chances have been boosted by a financial windfall from President Nelson Mandela this week clearly designed to enhance Swapo’s standing. Mandela announced that South Africa would write off Namibia’s R800-million pre- independence debt.
The write-off will have a substantial impact on Namibia, whose GDP is only R4-billion.
Pisani believes Swapo is likely to improve its parliamentary representation and could capture the elusive two-thirds majority it would need to completely dominate the national assembly.
This would enable it to change entrenched clauses in the constitution, notably one which restricts the president to two terms in office.
Editor of the DTA-supporting Die Republikein newspaper, Chris Jacobie, disagrees, arguing that Swapo has saturated the northern regions and is unlikely to find sufficient new votes elsewhere to meet its aspirations for a 66 percent majority.
Nujoma is widely expected to win even more votes than his party in the presidential contest, a straight fight with 51-year-old Mishake Muyongo, a former Swapo vice-president who now leads the DTA.
The election has seen a surprising popular turnout, given the political apathy which appeared to have set in four years after independence euphoria. The registered electorate of 650 000 is about 50 000 smaller than that eligible for the 1989 United Nations-supervised poll. Voting is being supervised this time by about 140 foreign observers.
Election organisers rushed extra election materials to the populous north as voters swamped polling stations.
Elections director Professor Gerhard Totemeyer said shortages of election materials in Oshakati and nearby Ondangwa were rapidly corrected with an unscheduled airlift to the Oshana region. — Sapa and Weekly Mail & Guardian reporter