President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah appeared to have a seamless State of the Nation Address on Wednesday. She was especially impressive when she sat down and rolled up her proverbial public servant sleeves to engage with individual MPs’ questions.
Without breaking a sweat, the President’s dialogue with lawmakers depicted a Head of State who is comfortable and possesses legitimacy in the eyes of the legislature. Her exchange with the parliamentarians appeared professional and centred on the problems facing the nation.
However, not all that glitters is gold.
Behind the cool, collected, and confident demeanour is a skipper trying to navigate stormy waters. Nandi-Ndaitwah’s primary headache is caused not by the National Assembly, but by the party she leads: Swapo.
She is facing a mutiny, and her move over a week ago to readjust her executive team is believed to be a proactive step with next year’s ruling party elective congress in mind. Observers believe she is aiming to strengthen her grassroots power base within the party. Surviving the congress and cementing her control of Swapo seem to be the most pressing items on her ever-growing to-do list.
President Nandi-Ndaitwah appointed seven deputy ministers from the National Council – the highest number of National Council members to be appointed to executive positions in the history of independent Namibia.
She also brought Swapo’s long-serving mobilisation secretary, Hilma Nicanor, back into government as a special advisor to the Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs. Nicanor previously held the post of deputy defence minister for a decade, only stepping down in March last year.
Also significant was the promotion of Charles Mubita from deputy defence minister to Minister of Presidential Affairs, a position which has been vacant since Nandi-Ndaitwah took office last year.
In the weeks leading up to her 2 April announcement, Namibia’s political rumour mill went into overdrive. Speculation suggested that five Cabinet ministers were either facing the sack or resigning for various reasons. This included suggestions of changes to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister portfolios. While the President’s surprise visit to the Windhoek Central Hospital days before her announcement drew specific speculation that Health Minister Esperance Luvindao was also facing the chop, Nandi-Ndaitwah’s adjustment of her executive team ended being underwhelming and failing to live up to its explosive billing.
It became evident that her move was a manoeuvre aimed at widening her sphere of influence within the ruling party. Those in the know credit the precarious relationship with Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa as the key factor in forcing Nandi-Ndaitwah’s hand.
Party insiders have also indicated that she finds herself at odds with a section of the party’s power brokers who once supported her. Allegiances within the party are shifting, and the chaos associated with pre-congress euphoria is fast besetting the party. These factors appear to have forced Nandi-Ndaitwah into moves aimed at creating the space to stamp her identity on the party after years of relying on Shaningwa to handle party affairs for her.
This ‘two centres of power’ scenario has made Shaningwa one of the most powerful and influential Swapo secretaries general in the party’s history. In the past, Swapo presidents have always held sway, Nandi-Ndaitwah’s predecessors resisted the two centres of power approach for fear of being ousted.
The stakes appear to be higher now, and the rift between the President and her SG is widening. Nandi-Ndaitwah may be realising why her forerunners resisted allowing their secretary generals total control of the party. While Nandi-Ndaitwah and Shaningwa have publicly shown a united front – with the President believed to have made it known she will support Shaningwa’s bid for the party vice-presidency next year. However, insiders insist it is a facade and that distrust between the two is growing. Shaningwa, who commands a formidable constituency in the party, has allegedly complained of being sidelined since last year, despite playing a key role in Nandi-Ndaitwah’s march to State House.
The Issue understands that former President Hifikepunye Pohamba mediated talks between the two to put their differences aside for the sake of the party.
The party’s powerful Politburo is also believed to be split, with a handful of factions forming in the hope of taking control of the party. These factions are led by power brokers who, despite faring well at the 2022 elective congress and the 2024 electoral college, were not included in Nandi-Ndaitwah’s Cabinet.
Hostility towards her also played out in the National Assembly, where the President is struggling to push through the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Amendment Bill. This bill would pave the way for moving the powers to control the oil and gas exploration sectors away from the Mines Ministry and directly under the President.
The Issue understands that the ruling party’s parliamentary caucus was so resistant that they openly defied their President’s instructions to push the bill through. Those in the know claim this situation led to Party Deputy Secretary-General Uahekua Herunga being replaced by party veteran Alpheus !Naruseb as Party Chief Whip in the National Assembly.
With about 18 months left before the congress and a growing bottleneck of pending legislative reforms, Nandi-Ndaitwah needs to dig deep and find a way to get her party to toe the line, or risk having her vision derailed by Swapo’s internal strife.
