Maria David & Placido Hilukilwa
NETUMBO Nandi-Ndaitwah, the ruling Swapo Party’s presidential candidate, has finally broken her silence on the persistent claims that she was not her party’s legitimate presidential candidate.
She came out strongly during a Swapo rally at Omuthiya in the Oshikoto region on Saturday.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said she remained silent when some people persistently claimed, since 2022, that she was not the legitimate presidential candidate of Swapo, even taking the matter to the High Court. However, she knew that her detractors had no valid case.
She declared that the chapter is now closed: she was registered by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) as Swapo’s presidential candidate, and the High Court case that attempted to block her candidature was struck from the court roll.
With fewer than 40 days remaining before election day, Nandi-Ndaitwah encouraged Swapo members, supporters, and sympathizers to use the remaining time to talk to their relatives, friends, and neighbours about Swapo, its election manifesto, and its presidential candidate.
Speaking at the same rally, Swapo Party Secretary-General Sophia Shaningwa reminded rally-goers that attending rallies in large numbers is only meaningful if people actually go to the polling stations on election day to cast their votes.
“When the day comes, let us go out and vote for our Swapo and our candidate,” she said. Turning to opposition politicians who claim that Swapo, the ECN, and the South African printers of ballot papers are in cahoots, Shaningwa said they were lying.
She emphasized that the procurement of ballot papers is being done transparently, and representatives of all participating political parties will soon travel to South Africa to verify the process of printing, packaging, and transporting the ballot papers.
