‘Know your leaders and hold them accountable,’ says Nandi-Ndaitwah

Placido Hilukilwa

BOTH the Swapo Party introspection conference of 2020 and the party’s ordinary congress of last year identified the urgent need to fully implement the ruling party’s manifesto and mandated the party leadership to be in permanent contact with the people.

Those are, therefore, the reasons why Swapo vice president and presidential candidate for next year’s elections, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, is crisscrossing the country, holding rallies and round table events. This past weekend, she was at Omuthiya, the seat of the Oshikoto regional government. As has become customary, Secretary-General Sophia Shaningwa was there too to present her to the huge crowd of members, supporters, and sympathizers of the party. To the excitement of the rally-goers, Shaningwa started her speech in the local vernacular, Oshindonga. She congratulated the regional coordinator Armas Amukwiyu for scoring an important tactical goal by bringing together an impressive crowd.

“There were those claiming that Netumbo [Nandi-Ndaitwah] was unwanted in Oshikoto. You have proven them wrong,” said Shaningwa before switching to her mother tongue, Oshimbalantu. As she called Nandi-Ndaitwah to address the gathering, Shaningwa urged members, supporters, and sympathizers of Swapo to throw their weight behind the party’s presidential candidate.

“Our candidate,” she said, “does not want to sit in her office. She wants to interact with the people and be familiar with their situation.” The massive presence of the youth did not go unnoticed, and Nandi-Ndaitwah kick-started her keynote speech saying their presence at the rally did lay bare the falseness of the claims that young people have deserted the ruling party. She also expressed appreciation of the significant presence of the Veterans of the liberation struggle, the exile kids, the women, and the elders. “Your massive presence is, in itself, a very strong statement,” she said. She said that addressing a rally in the Oshikoto Region was of particular significance to her as it brought her back to her roots. Although she is Oshikwanyama-speaking, born in the Oshana Region, her grandfather on her father’s side was a village headman in the Ondonga area of Oshikoto Region. The Swapo Party vice president had a special word of appreciation for the candidates who did not make it during last year’s elective congress: Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and Pohamba Shifeta, who vied for the position she occupies currently, and Amukwiyu, who contested against Shaningwa.

“They demonstrated political maturity and their selfless love of their party,” she said. When she called the leaders at various levels of the party to the front, she said to the crowd: “You need to know your leaders and hold them accountable.”