Geingob shelves plan to quit Swapo post
Party head to serve full term
The head of state, under fire from his own party, has placed on ice any move that would necessitate an extraordinary congress before 2024.
President Hage Geingob has changed his plan of quitting as Swapo president before the 2024 election after his recent remarks at congress – including the possibility of an extraordinary congress to endorse the party’s candidate – caused a stir.
If Geingob pressed ahead with his plan to quit the party presidency before the 2024 general election, Swapo might have been required to call an extraordinary congress to elect its new president, who through the party’s succession policy would then become its presidential candidate in the national election.
The timing of Geingob quitting the party seat was seen as suspect by particularly the supporters of Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is deemed to have secured the party’s candidacy for 2024 presidential election by virtue of retaining her position as party vice-president at the recent congress.
Some within her camp felt Geingob could quit the party presidency – if he so desires – after Nandi-Ndaitwah has been elected as country president so that she does not have to face another hurdle of becoming party president before being declared its candidate.
From Washington DC, where he is attending a business leaders’ summit, Geingob declared he will now complete his five years as party president – which ends at the 2027 congress.
He dismissed perceptions that he does not support Nandi-Ndaitwah’s retention of the party’s vice-president position, which puts her in a pole position as Geingob’s head of state successor in March 2025.
“The president mentioning an extraordinary congress, in passing, at the announcement of results at the seventh congress was simply a reference to a possibility of giving the party’s presidential powers, through the extraordinary congress, to Comrade Nandi-Ndaitwah at the appropriate time so as to enable her to occupy both positions of party and republic president,” Geingob’s spokesperson Alfredo Hengari said in a statement.
‘Automatic candidate’
“Judging from the misguided reaction to and misinterpretation of such an idea and the potential for it to bring further uncertainty and malign speculation, President Geingob has since decided that he will fully serve his five-year constitutional term as party president until the eighth congress [in 2027].”
Geingob described Nandi-Ndaitwah as Swapo’s “the automatic candidate” in the 2024 presidential election.
“Thus, any debates around this question is absurd and of no consequence,” Hengari said.
“The president calls on Swapo Party members and supporters to rally behind the party and its 2024 presidential candidate, Comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, so as to register and record a landslide victory at the 2024 elections.
“The president hereby directs that any factional groupings - if any exist based on the support of a particular candidate during the just-ended congress - should forthwith be disbanded,” the statement read.
No truth
Geingob did not publicly endorse any candidate at the November congress, saying he wanted everyone to compete on a level playing field.
Many within the Nandi-Ndaitwah camp were irked by this decision, saying Geingob was breaking a long ‘tradition’ where the party head endorses his deputy at congress to either take over the party or be a candidate in the national presidential race.
“The president has openly and unambiguously committed to working with any of the candidates winning the contested positions of the party at the seventh congress. That position has not changed.
“Therefore, there is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that the president is allegedly unhappy about the re-election of Comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the vice-president of the Swapo Party,” Hengari remarked.
If Geingob pressed ahead with his plan to quit the party presidency before the 2024 general election, Swapo might have been required to call an extraordinary congress to elect its new president, who through the party’s succession policy would then become its presidential candidate in the national election.
The timing of Geingob quitting the party seat was seen as suspect by particularly the supporters of Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is deemed to have secured the party’s candidacy for 2024 presidential election by virtue of retaining her position as party vice-president at the recent congress.
Some within her camp felt Geingob could quit the party presidency – if he so desires – after Nandi-Ndaitwah has been elected as country president so that she does not have to face another hurdle of becoming party president before being declared its candidate.
From Washington DC, where he is attending a business leaders’ summit, Geingob declared he will now complete his five years as party president – which ends at the 2027 congress.
He dismissed perceptions that he does not support Nandi-Ndaitwah’s retention of the party’s vice-president position, which puts her in a pole position as Geingob’s head of state successor in March 2025.
“The president mentioning an extraordinary congress, in passing, at the announcement of results at the seventh congress was simply a reference to a possibility of giving the party’s presidential powers, through the extraordinary congress, to Comrade Nandi-Ndaitwah at the appropriate time so as to enable her to occupy both positions of party and republic president,” Geingob’s spokesperson Alfredo Hengari said in a statement.
‘Automatic candidate’
“Judging from the misguided reaction to and misinterpretation of such an idea and the potential for it to bring further uncertainty and malign speculation, President Geingob has since decided that he will fully serve his five-year constitutional term as party president until the eighth congress [in 2027].”
Geingob described Nandi-Ndaitwah as Swapo’s “the automatic candidate” in the 2024 presidential election.
“Thus, any debates around this question is absurd and of no consequence,” Hengari said.
“The president calls on Swapo Party members and supporters to rally behind the party and its 2024 presidential candidate, Comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, so as to register and record a landslide victory at the 2024 elections.
“The president hereby directs that any factional groupings - if any exist based on the support of a particular candidate during the just-ended congress - should forthwith be disbanded,” the statement read.
No truth
Geingob did not publicly endorse any candidate at the November congress, saying he wanted everyone to compete on a level playing field.
Many within the Nandi-Ndaitwah camp were irked by this decision, saying Geingob was breaking a long ‘tradition’ where the party head endorses his deputy at congress to either take over the party or be a candidate in the national presidential race.
“The president has openly and unambiguously committed to working with any of the candidates winning the contested positions of the party at the seventh congress. That position has not changed.
“Therefore, there is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that the president is allegedly unhappy about the re-election of Comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the vice-president of the Swapo Party,” Hengari remarked.
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