Swapo has fallen off the truck – Nahas

Swapo has fallen off the truck – Nahas JEMIMA BEUKES



WINDHOEK

The ruling party has fallen off the liberation and social justice truck, a situation which calls for party veterans to regroup and restore it for future generations.

This is according to Swapo veteran Nahas Angula, who said the glue that kept the party together in the past was its pursuit for social justice. Former prime minister Angula was speaking to Namibian Sun’s The Evening Review talk show recently.

"We might have made mistakes here and there. But the reality of the current Swapo party came out of the moral weaknesses of one of our comrades. We started to compete for resources and to abuse public resources. We started to empower ourselves instead of the masses," he said.

Angula added that the so-called Fishrot scandal came as a surprise to many of the party's cadres and that former justice minister Sakeus Shanghala, who cautioned the party to reinvent itself, has no moral grounding.

"They are the ones who have damaged the Swapo brand because of their greed. People started questioning that Swapo is talking about solidarity and justice. We are supposed to feel with the poor and unemployed youth of this nation. Instead, some of the comrades took advantage of this position and looted,” he said.

Admitting mistakes

Asked whether veterans such as himself shoulder the blame for the party’s disintegration and divided state, Angula said self-correction calls upon them to admit that mistakes were made.

“Yes, I have been in the leadership of the Swapo party for some time, but we trusted each other, thinking all of us are working for the common good - but unfortunately some have succumbed to temptations to be rich or whatever and did some things some of us never thought could be done,” he said.

On his involvement at the party’s next congress, Angula said he will help to educate the nation on what Swapo stood for.

“Yes, Swapo might have fallen off the truck, but that is the challenge of life. Let us see how we can put ourselves back on track as a party. I hope we will [re-invent], look at our neighbours - they were at the same point at some point. They did some self-correction and rebuilt the ANC brand,” he said.

Angula also believes the fact that the Fishrot suspects are tried in a court of law can help convince Namibians that not all Swapo members are corrupt.

jemima@namibiansun.com