A “hoax” e-mail campaign similar to the one that implicated top government officials in an alleged plot to smear African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma has surfaced in Namibia, strengthening suspicions that the e-mails are the work of an “outside force”.
The ANC task team appointed to investigate the alleged campaign against Zuma has not ruled out the possibility that the source of the emails may have been influenced “from the outside” by people with vested interests in the outcome of the ANC’s succession battle.
The Namibian case has lent credence to suspicions that the mirror-image campaigns in the two countries are being used as a deliberate divide-and-rule tactic.
A glut of anonymous e-mails, issued under the pseudonym Ananias Nghifitikeko, has surfaced intermittently in Namibia’s ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo) over the past two years. It is apparently part of a smear campaign against former foreign minister Hidipo Hamutenya, currently a member of Parliament.
The e-mails first emerged in June 2004, ahead of the Namibian national election, which pitted Hamutenya against then Swapo president Sam Nujoma in the presidential succession race.
Nujoma sacked Hamutenya in May that year, four days before Swapo anointed vice-president Hifikepunye Pohamba as its candidate.
The e-mails, sent to government ministers, Swapo politicians and party members in June and July 2004, labelled Hamutenya and his supporters “agents of white imperialism” conspiring against Swapo. The campaign succeeded in destroying Hamu-tenya’s presidential ambitions.
This year the e-mail campaign has resurfaced under the same pseudonym, Ananias Nghifitikeko, ahead of Swapo’s elective congress next year.
The Mail & Guardian is in possession of the latest e-mails, sent by Nghifitikeko on April 29. They comprise a 13-page tirade against Hamu-tenya, who is accused of using “his network of corrupt, tribalist racists and gangsters, their secret foreign handlers and paymasters” to smear Nujoma.
“My reliable sources have revealed that, with Swapo congress coming next year, [this] criminal and tribal network [have] begun with their campaign against Dr Nujoma and those seen as his supporters, including President Hifikepunye Pohamba,” says part of the e-mails.
The e-mails have again entrenched leadership divisions in Swapo as the succession battle between Nujoma, the Hamutenya camp and Pohamba has begun to play itself out. It is believed that Nujoma will win hands down, and that the Hamu-tenya faction will not be strong, as his camp does not have the momentum it had in 2004.
The Namibian e-mails bear charac-teristics similar to those of the campaign that surfaced in the ANC at the end of last year.
The “hoax” e-mail saga purportedly implicated top government and ANC officials, including Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, in a plot to sideline political opponents, principally ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma and ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe, in the presidential succession race ahead of the party’s elective conference in December next year. It led to a major political fallout that culminated in the dismissal of National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director general Billy Masetlha by President Thabo Mbeki in March.
Inspector General of Intelligence Zolile Ngcakani’s report found the emails had been artificially constructed to look like electronic communication between senior government figures, in an attempt to sideline political opponents.
In the Namibian case, party stalwarts have blamed the opposition Congress of Democrats for the email campaign. They alleged it was retaliation for accusations by Nujoma that Congress of Democrats leader Ben Ulenga was “homosexual”.
But most senior Swapo figures apparently believe the e-mails originated from within the party. They said their style and content resembled Swapo Youth League statements. The league has denied any involvement.
A minority of Namibian party leaders believe the source of the emails could be “foreign agents, masquerading as local patriots … with vested interests”.
In March, the ANC national executive committee (NEC) announced the establishment of a party task team to investigate the origin of the “hoax” e-mails. The task team is headed by ANC struggle stalwart Hermanus Loots and includes Josiah Jele, former ANC NEC member; Gilbert Ramano, former army chief; and Jackie Sedibe, major general in the South African National Defence Force.
In Namibia, no formal investigation has been launched into the origin of the e-mails, although the attorney general has called on Swapo to deal with the divisive campaign. Hamutenya has expressed concern about Pohamba’s silence, and has called on him to denounce the emails publically.
Nujoma has remained silent, arousing suspicions that he may have approved the campaign. He has accused Hamutenya of fomenting party disunity through “clandestine political activities”.