Placido Hilukilwa
SOME members of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) in the Oshana Region are threatening to boycott the impending SPYL congress due to alleged irregularities that marked the recent regional conference.
The conference elected a new SPYL regional leadership and selected the region’s delegates to the congress.
The disgruntled youths are now crying foul.
They reportedly wrote a letter to high authorities in Windhoek demanding that the conference be nullified and a fresh one be convened or else the congress’s host region would boycott the event that takes place next week.
They allege that national leaders assigned to the region interfered with the election process, promoting their preferred candidates at the expense of others and practically derailing the whole process.
It is alleged that some candidates were initially disqualified causing a fierce disputation in the conference, but those disqualified were eventually allowed to contest after a phone call to the national headquarters.
Albertina Shilikomwenyo was elected regional secretary beating three other candidates, namely Lyamanguluka Hango, Eva Josephat and Sem Rabi.
A female candidate, who was negatively affected by the alleged interference of national leaders, claimed to know the reason: “Some years back, I rejected sexual advances from one of the top leaders. There has ever since been a concerted effort to block my way,” she said.
Approached for comment, SPYL secretary Ephraim Nekongo said that he has not yet scrutinized the Oshana conference report, nor is he aware of any letter of complaint emanating from that region.
He said that as far as he was aware, problems were only experienced with regional conferences in the Zambezi and in Oshikoto and they were promptly rectified.
In the Oshikoto Region the conference was annulled and was reconvened this past weekend.
He said that the congress takes place in the Oshana Region from 17 to 21 August, downplaying threats of boycotting the event.
“A region cannot boycott a congress simply because of one or two persons who failed to make it in an open and fair contest,” he said.
