Swapo sorry about 'infighting'

2005-03-10 22:25

Windhoek - Namibia's ruling party offered a rare public apology to its members for infighting in the run-up to last year's elections, as a high court ordered a recount of the November ballot on Thursday.

The South West African Peoples' Organisation (Swapo), in power since independence in 1990, admitted following a two-day meeting of its leadership that it had gone through a rough patch and set up a committee to help the party heal its wounds.

"The central committee recognised the differences of opinion that emanated from those elections and they were thoroughly discussed," Swapo central committee secretary-general Ngarikutuke Tjiriange told reporters.

"The central committee apologised to those comrades outside the party leadership who may have been hurt in the process," Tjiriange added.

Swapo's almost military-like discipline took a nosedive when Namibia's founding president Sam Nujoma fired his foreign minister Hidipo Hamutenya in May, a few days before a party congress picked a presidential candidate.

Hamutenya still contested as one of the three party candidates to be selected, but lost to Hifikepunye Pohamba, Nujoma's chosen sucessor.

Meanwhile, a high court on Thursday ordered a recount of ballots from the November 15-16 parliamentary elections overwhelmingly won by Swapo.

But Judge Petrus Damaseb refused to grant a request from two opposition parties who asked that the vote be declared null and void due to serious irregularities.

He ordered that the recount begin no later than Monday and be completed by Sunday of next week, just one day ahead of the March 21 inauguration of President-elect Hifikepunye Pohamba, who will take over from veteran leader Sam Nujoma.

Swapo won 75.1% of the vote in the elections in the southern African country, its third victory since Namibia's independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.

Swapo won a majority

Swapo won 55 of the 72 seats in the new assembly whose members were scheduled to be sworn in on March 18.

The opposition Republican Party and Congress of Democrats (CoD) in December asked the high court to nullify the parliamentary election results, arguing that voters were registered more than once and citing irregularities with ballot papers and return forms.

The Republican Party hailed the decision, while attorney-General Pendukeni Ithana was taken aback. "This is a democratic process at work and it's now too early to say what we will decide to do," he said.

Pohamba also won a resounding victory in the November 15 and 16 presidential election and is set to take the oath of office on March 21, becoming Namibia's second president since independence from apartheid South Africa.

In an unusual step, Tjiriange distributed copies of Nujoma's speeches at the central committee meeting, in which he called on the 83-member body to speak "frankly and openly" so that "all grievances, misunderstandings and concerns that may exist, can be addressed and resolved".

- AFP