Will former Namibian president Sam Nujoma simply fade into the background of Swapo — or will he succumb to pressures from his hard-line loyalists to hang on to the ruling party’s presidency for another five years?
With Swapo’s central committee due to meet this weekend to discuss the date and procedures for its annual congress, which will likely determine Nujoma’s future role, there is increased speculation that the ruling party will re-activate the position of Swapo party chair to try to keep both Nujoma and his critics in the party happy.
Nujoma, who was given the official status of ”Father of the Nation” to encourage him to take a more conciliatory role shortly before the end of his third term in 2005, recently told journalists in Lusaka that he planned to quit active politics, which would include giving up the powerful position of party presidency.
Last weekend, the contenders in the last presidential elections were supposed to meet for what was to be a personal reconciliation between Nujoma and former trade and industry minister Hidipo Hamutenya, whom Nujoma sidelined at the last minute.
However, the meeting never happened, raising speculation that Nujoma is still not ready to yield power to his successor, current President Hifikepunye Pohamba.
One of the main reasons for the divisions in the ruling party appears to be questions about how certain hardliners came to be elected as MPs in 2004, when Hamutenya’s campaign to succeed Nujoma triggered an all-out witch-hunt against him and his followers.
Then, shortly before the elections took place, Swapo HQ produced a list of candidates that appeared to be designed to keep Hamutenya and his backers out of Parliament’s well-paid seats.
With political patronage and access to public office largely seen as the quickest way to wealth in Namibia, a whole new generation of junior ministers, many with no prior administrative experience, suddenly got their chance at the public trough.
But the tables turned on the Nujoma camp when one of the most outspoken Nujoma loyalists, former Swapo Youth League secretary general Paulus Kapia, was forced to vacate both his offices, as junior works minister and as MP after becoming embroiled in a scheme to steal R30-million from the Namibian Social Security ÂÂÂCommission.
Hamutenya, as the next-highest candidate on the Swapo list, was brought back to Parliament in what he termed as ”a sign from above” and one that highlighted the fractured nature of Swapo’s internal politics.
Despite efforts to gloss over the internal divisions, the fractures persist. Swapo secretary general Ngarikutuke Tjiriange was quoted last week as saying that efforts by certain Swapo branches to agitate for Nujoma’s return as party president ”would have no consequence” as they were being organised outside of accepted party structures.
Nonetheless, the internal struggle continues to take its political toll. Swapo’s widely respected chief whip, Ben Amadhila, suddenly announced his resignation a few weeks ago, shortly before Parliament was due to go into recess, in apparent frustration over political intransigence among ranking party members and Nujoma’s unwillingness to forgive and forget.
Former prime minister Hage Geingob, who had pushed Nujoma’s controversial 1999 bid for a third term through Parliament, was appointed in his stead, a move that has irked the Hamutenya camp immensely.
In return they have started to question Geingob’s past political connections, including his alleged friendship with assassinated South African fraudster Brett Kebble. Geingob was due to have dinner with Kebble on the night of Kebble’s murder two years ago.
Party insiders made it clear this week that all attempts to project party unity would be seen as a political hoax until ”serious obstacles”, such as Nujoma’s attitude towards the Hamutenya camp, were formally addressed at the meeting this weekend.