Netumbo slams ‘regime change’ agenda after IPC meets with European diplomats
Swapo vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has slammed the nature of a meeting between German ambassador Thorsten Hutter and Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula, which was also attended by European Union (EU) envoys based in Namibia.
Nandi-Ndaitwah yesterday called out the foreign diplomats for allegedly implying that “a regime change is imminent” in Namibia. There is no evidence that the diplomats made such remarks, although an IPC-linked social media page called Windhoek Times stated that Itula “is widely projected to be the next president of Namibia”.
The lunch meeting on Tuesday was also attended by the local ambassadors of Portugal, Spain, France, Finland and the EU.
Itula was accompanied by his vice-president, Trevino Forbes.
On Wednesday, international relations minister Peya Mushelenga summoned Hutter and the envoys from the EU, and questioned them on allegations that issues that are “the sole preserve and prerogative of the sending and host governments” were discussed with the IPC leaders.
Interference feared
Speaking at the opening of a Swapo central committee meeting yesterday, Nandi-Ndaitwah charged that interference in the upcoming national elections - to influence their outcomes - may be afoot. This after IPC said, in a statement, that the possible outcome of the elections was among the issues discussed at the meeting.
According to Nandi-Ndaitwah, there is nothing wrong with foreign diplomats engaging opposition parties, but discussing matters of internal politics is ‘questionable’.
“Comrades, there is nothing wrong for a diplomat to meet leaders or members of opposition parties, but to discuss state matters and to be directly involved in internal politics is a highly questionable form of diplomacy.”
“The same embassy went further to say that a particular leader of the opposition is widely projected to be the next president of Namibia. What a diplomatic statement, particularly from a country with whom we still have a serious pending issue,” she said, referring to genocide talks between Namibia and Germany.
“By extension, there may be a strategy to interfere in our elections, as the statement has the smell of an element of regime change.”
Nandi-Ndaitwah added that there exist enemies of liberation movements who want to destroy them, and called upon citizens to be observant and to understand the political dynamics.
“There are enemies of democracy who are hard at work to destroy former liberation movements in southern Africa - to the detriment of the people of those countries,” she said.
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Nandi-Ndaitwah yesterday called out the foreign diplomats for allegedly implying that “a regime change is imminent” in Namibia. There is no evidence that the diplomats made such remarks, although an IPC-linked social media page called Windhoek Times stated that Itula “is widely projected to be the next president of Namibia”.
The lunch meeting on Tuesday was also attended by the local ambassadors of Portugal, Spain, France, Finland and the EU.
Itula was accompanied by his vice-president, Trevino Forbes.
On Wednesday, international relations minister Peya Mushelenga summoned Hutter and the envoys from the EU, and questioned them on allegations that issues that are “the sole preserve and prerogative of the sending and host governments” were discussed with the IPC leaders.
Interference feared
Speaking at the opening of a Swapo central committee meeting yesterday, Nandi-Ndaitwah charged that interference in the upcoming national elections - to influence their outcomes - may be afoot. This after IPC said, in a statement, that the possible outcome of the elections was among the issues discussed at the meeting.
According to Nandi-Ndaitwah, there is nothing wrong with foreign diplomats engaging opposition parties, but discussing matters of internal politics is ‘questionable’.
“Comrades, there is nothing wrong for a diplomat to meet leaders or members of opposition parties, but to discuss state matters and to be directly involved in internal politics is a highly questionable form of diplomacy.”
“The same embassy went further to say that a particular leader of the opposition is widely projected to be the next president of Namibia. What a diplomatic statement, particularly from a country with whom we still have a serious pending issue,” she said, referring to genocide talks between Namibia and Germany.
“By extension, there may be a strategy to interfere in our elections, as the statement has the smell of an element of regime change.”
Nandi-Ndaitwah added that there exist enemies of liberation movements who want to destroy them, and called upon citizens to be observant and to understand the political dynamics.
“There are enemies of democracy who are hard at work to destroy former liberation movements in southern Africa - to the detriment of the people of those countries,” she said.
[email protected]
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