Youth league revolt Jan Poolman The simmering fuse of discontent since the Swapo elective congress of 2012 has exploded with the resignation of Job Amupanda from his leadership position in the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL), but with a threat that he and others will pursue their campaign of “affirmative repositioning” that is described by others as land grabbing. Irreconcilable differences and serious fault lines of internal division are part of the dirty laundry being washed in public after a strategy of the information and publicity of Amupanda, and three other members of the SPYL leadership backfired. It was intended to focus on the plight of landless youth by occupying a plot in the Kleine Kuppe suburb. Last night, the Secretary of the SPYL, Dr Elijah Ngurare, was trapped in the middle of the Amupanda and Nekundi factions-each baying for the other’s blood. This bombshell exploded two weeks before the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for 28 November, exposing the continuous infighting amongst the youth leadership including senior members of the National Youth Council. In a counter action, some SPYL National Executive Committee members asked for the suspension of Amupanda and two other leaders Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and George Kambala for what they term land grabbing, saying their actions are divisive, destabilising and counterproductive. The request to Ngurare, from his deputy Veikko Nekundi, was also forwarded to the top four leaders of Swapo, namely Pres Hifike-punye Pohamba, Dr Hage Geingob, Nangolo Mbumba, and Laura McLeod. Amupanda in his resignation letter revealed that a dysfunctional SPYL grew as of 2007 with the injection of new leaders until in 2013 to such an extent that it ran out of membership cards. He claimed that SPYL even became stronger than the mother party. Since then, Amupanda noted it became clear that Swapo leaders had only one thing in mind and that was the dethroning of the SPYL leadership of which he was the secretary for information. Nekundi, on the other hand, argued that the Kleine Kuppe actions brought Swapo into disrepute and therefore the immediate suspension of Amupanda, Nauyoma and Kamabala should be considered. Nekundi also admitted that the SPYL failed to be taken serious by the mother party and that it was time to mend relationships. Amupanda in a series of statements on Facebook is adamant that he will continue to be a member of the SPYL central committee and will not allow himself to be reduced to a silent zombie. He also referred to the youth leaders Mandela Kapere of the National Youth Council and Nekundi as sell-outs for a plate of curry, while he was also informed that ministers and members of Parliament have back rooms in their yards which they rent out at exorbitant amounts to the youth and thereby exploiting them. Apparently, the Nekundi letter originated from a night meeting at the National Youth Council on Tuesday and surfaced only yesterday. In the meantime, the CEO of the City of Windhoek, Niilo Taapopi, told Informanté that he visited the so-called land grabbing area, saying that the municipality will keep an eye on it. “People cannot take the law into their own hands. They can approach the City Council and apply through the right procedures for a piece of land, which would be considered,” Taapopi concluded.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 06:05:30 +0000
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