Swapo hoodwinked members, Shipwikeneni claims
Swapo member Reinhold Shipwikineni told the Windhoek High Court he has no intention to hurt the party - of which he is a paid-up member - but he hoped it would respect its own constitution and call for an extraordinary congress in time.
Shipwikineni is one of the party members who have dragged Swapo to court for bypassing its own constitution by deferring an extraordinary congress to 2025 following the death of party president Hage Geingob in February.
“I submit that self-evidently the only reason for that [deferment] was because the party did not want any challenge to Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s nomination. In short, Swapo’s inner coterie sought to avoid the provisions of its constitution and thereby paid lip service to the democratic values espoused by it,” he said in court papers.
He highlighted concerns about some leaders ignoring the party’s principles, adding that he "believed that the leadership was no longer on the righteous path which had made Swapo the dominant political party in Namibia”.
“I wanted all Swapo members to be aware of what was happening and how they might have been hoodwinked,” he said.
‘Abusive and malicious’
In her answering affidavit, Swapo secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa described Shipwikineni and others who have joined him in the lawsuit as abusive and malicious, arguing that they merely want to damage the party.
“Shipwikineni is an abusive litigant. He has abused Swapo leadership in a malicious and dehumanising manner. Previously, he acted in a disruptive manner, which caused irreparable damage to the party, by purporting to suspend the president and assuming office of the president," she noted in court papers.
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Shipwikineni is one of the party members who have dragged Swapo to court for bypassing its own constitution by deferring an extraordinary congress to 2025 following the death of party president Hage Geingob in February.
“I submit that self-evidently the only reason for that [deferment] was because the party did not want any challenge to Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s nomination. In short, Swapo’s inner coterie sought to avoid the provisions of its constitution and thereby paid lip service to the democratic values espoused by it,” he said in court papers.
He highlighted concerns about some leaders ignoring the party’s principles, adding that he "believed that the leadership was no longer on the righteous path which had made Swapo the dominant political party in Namibia”.
“I wanted all Swapo members to be aware of what was happening and how they might have been hoodwinked,” he said.
‘Abusive and malicious’
In her answering affidavit, Swapo secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa described Shipwikineni and others who have joined him in the lawsuit as abusive and malicious, arguing that they merely want to damage the party.
“Shipwikineni is an abusive litigant. He has abused Swapo leadership in a malicious and dehumanising manner. Previously, he acted in a disruptive manner, which caused irreparable damage to the party, by purporting to suspend the president and assuming office of the president," she noted in court papers.
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