EDITORIAL: Swapo must clarify gender issues in congress race

Swapo is once again confronted by the ghost of its 50/50 gender balance stunt. Party members – including its leaders – are caught up in ambiguities and contradictions on how this principle will apply to the top-four race at this year’s congress.

To demonstrate the confusion, two learned members of the party – so learned they served in the think tank – couldn’t clearly state how it will apply.

One said: “[The gender balance principle] will typically not apply - especially so after the central committee has endorsed the men [and women] in each position”.

Another said: “The power of incumbency might dictate otherwise”.

This is Exhibit A of how foggy and indistinct the rules are, and if the party does not clear the air well in time, it risks post-congress squabbles and possibly court challenges by those who might feel they won on the basis of the gender rules.

Ideally, Swapo must keep the zebra-styled gender matric as far away as possible from its top-four structures and allow democracy alone to dictate who wins those seats. Those echelons of the party are just too critical to be left at the mercy of gender sentimentalism.

If the democratic outcome leaves the party with an all-woman top-four, or all men, then so be it. Doing the opposite would subjugate the will of the congress majority to draconian, empty populism and disregard the very democratic fabric that is supposed be the genetic make-up of the party.