The Namibian electorate’s resounding slap in the face of Swapo in the last election may not yet have landed, as the party roundly rejected any talk of wooing parliamentary bedfellows to ensure a comfortable majority in the unlikely event of the opposition uniting and to counter chronic absenteeism from parliamentarians on both sides.
When Swapo failed to secure a two-thirds majority in the 2019 National Assembly elections, it elevated National Unity Democratic Organisation’s (Nudo) president Utjiua Muinjangue, to a deputy minister portfolio to ensure they have the voting power to comfortably outvote the opposition as it struggled with keeping an expanded executive with an insatiable wanderlust.
HISTORIC DOMINANCE
The 1989 United Nations-supervised elections saw 57% vote for Swapo after a 30-year-long armed and diplomatic struggle for independence. The party’s popularity peaked in the 2014 when Hage Geingob achieved 87%in the presidential poll, with the party gaining 80% of the vote in the National assembly elections. Swapo, however, suffered a sharp decline in popularity for its presidential candidate, with Geingob getting 56% and the party achieving 65% in 2019. This necessitated roping Muinjangue in to not only restore its two-thirds majority but also decapitate the genocide reparations movement. Muinjangue was the head of the committee spearheading a bottom-up approach to genocide reparations negotiations with Germany.
In the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly Elections, the ruling party, Swapo, secured a slim majority, winning 51 out of 96 voting National Assembly seats, a significant decrease from their 63 seats in the 2019 elections.
This decline underscores a notable shift in Namibia’s political landscape, reflecting growing public dissatisfaction with Swapo’s failure to provide affordable housing, quality education and healthcare for the average Namibian with the cost of living increasing rapidly in recent years. This comes amidst a shift in the sands of southern African politics as the electorate across the region moves to reject liberation movements turning governing regimes.
In the 2024 presidential race, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of Swapo achieved victory with 57% of the vote, becoming Namibia’s first female president. Opposition candidate Panduleni Itula received 25.50% of the vote, down from his 29% in his previous attempt.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE
Swapo’s deputy secretary general, Uahekua Herunga was blunt about his party’s election results despite investing considerable resources into the campaign.
In a telephonic interview last week, Herunga said the election outcome depicts the voters’ choice and the party has agreed to abide by democratic principles.
“Swapo did not perform as we wanted. But that is democracy in action. There is nothing we can do; democracy means the people’s choice, and this is what the people of Namibia wanted. We have no choice other than to accept the outcome of the elections,” he said.
But Herunga is adamant Swapo isn’t considering its razor-thin majority as a stumbling block for delivering on its manifesto.
He rejected any talk of cooperating with opposition parties to ensure it doesn’t run into trouble executing its mandate; in fact, he doesn’t even want the mention of a specific C-word (Coalition):
“Unless you want to push me on the definition of coalition, because coalition comes about when one party does not have enough votes to form a government; hence you would need the support of other parties to form a government. The Swapo party, as the ruling party, has the complete majority needed to form a government on our own,” said Herunga, who would also not provide information or be drawn into speculation of presidential appointments to help her party navigate their scant majority, saying, “It is the prerogative of the president.”
Instead, Herunga wants the electorate to know that the governing party, this time around, will focus on another C-word.
“We are committed! Said the resident of Opuwo in the Kunene region. Having signed a contract with the Namibian electorate, we informed them of the contents of our manifesto and they have agreed; hence, they voted for the Swapo party. What is left to those of us who have been elected is the implementation of the manifesto to the letter, given the availability of resources.”
With such a slim voting majority, president-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah will have to fashion a Cabinet from the 51 voting members and her eight non-voting appointments, considering the Speakership might take another voting MP.
The Affirmative Repositioning movement decided not to provide comment for this article, while the ousted official opposition, the Popular Democratic Movement, promised to reply but has not done so at the time of publication.
If Swapo decides to enter the next parliament without raking together a motley selection of smaller parties or even striking an agreement with one or more bigger opposition parties, they might be outvoted, regardless of their established majority.
UNTHINKING
But Herunga would have nothing of that: “You would be stupid to be absent from the house when you know that a particular bill is being voted on that day. We are expected to be in the know whether, for example, Bill A, B or C will be voted on on this particular day. How could we be so naive as to be absent for us to be outvoted while we represent the majority in the house? That would mean we don’t think.”
Herunga is a former environment minister who spent some time in the political wilderness before winning the deputy secretary general vote in Swapo’s recent internal election campaign.
He blames his party’s performance in the last election on the effects of Covid-19 and drought; hence, in his view, the performance of the government was not to the satisfaction of the voters.
The Swapo deputy secretary general is, therefore, pledging to hit the ground running.
Herunga insisted that efficient coordination will see to it that travel will be approved based on the number of parliamentarians the governing party has in the house, and to ensure they remain the majority in the house at all times to ensure every part of the manifesto is implemented to the satisfaction of the masses.
ENTRANCE
Debutants, the Independent Patriots for Change’s (IPC) also points to improved coordination as a focus for their parliamentary caucus. For the next five years the party will focus on bringing opportunities for ordinary Namibians.
Spokesperson, Imms Nashinge said the party will focus primarily on the well-being of Namibia and her people. Their focus will be on providing simple solutions like ensuring systems are integrated.
“If you look at NamRA, BIPA, Social Security and the municipalities, there are just no properly integrated systems there to make life easier,” said the civil servant turned politician.
Nashinge too would not be dragged into talks of C-words.
“I don’t want to focus on cooperation because you can already see how things are going. We have Namibian people that need us to speak for them, to bring about change as it may be, to make their lives easier.
One of those issues is housing.
“The Local Authority Act of 1992 empowers the municipalities to construct houses both for rental purposes or for sale and this practice has died out. The City of Windhoek, as an example, has a horrible backlog of houses to be built.
He said many young working professionals are forced to move out of the city and commute daily over 50 kilometres one-way to find affordable housing in developments like Osona outside Okahandja.
“Imagine how challenging their lives are given the distance and associated transport costs,” said Nashinge.
HUNGRY
The IPC is also irked by the country’s inability to feed itself and would use their parliamentary presence to probe and find solutions for Namibia’s hunger problem, as the party’s 20 strong MPs prepare to enter parliament.
According to the World Food Programme, Namibia suffers from a serious level of hunger, ranking 86th out of 121 countries on the 2024 Global Hunger Index. Unicef reports nearly a quarter of Namibian children under the age of five suffer from stunting. In June last year, the health ministry reported about 1 101 Namibians had died of malnutrition over the previous four years.
“We have the ocean, but Namibians, rich and poor, struggle to find fish. But it’s our fish. Shall we then look into subsidising the price of fish? You have the state infrastructure falling apart. What can we do to improve that situation? So, we want to bring solutions to the many challenges facing our people,” said Nashinge.
On their part, the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) said they will remain critical of the governance and decisions made by the ruling party, as it has actively done.
The party’s spokesperson, Lifalaza Simataa, in written responses to questions, indicated the public could expect the same robust energy from the party’s five members as they intend to make their presence felt by actively posing questions to ministers, pushing for motions to create adjustments, changing or highlighting needs in the current system, and providing robust and informed contributions to debates.
Saying the party will support motions that are in the best interest of the Namibian people and are visible and necessary, regardless of which party expresses it, while not excluding opportunities to cooperate.
“There is always an opportunity for cooperation. The ideology is to benefit the Namibian people in the most ethical and sustainable way.
