DOCSLIB.ORG

Namibia in 2007

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Namibia in 2007 Namibia in 2007 The year culminated with the biggest change to the national politi- cal landscape since independence, with the collapse of the official opposition party as a result of internal differences, while several high-ranking members of the former liberation movement and dominant ruling party, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), registered their own new political party. The SWAPO congress elected the head of state as its new party president. Sam Nujoma, SWAPO president since the founding of the movement and head of state for 15 years, did not stand for election again. By year’s end, Namibia’s political map was both the same as before and very different. The country’s foreign policy persisted with its Look East orien- tation and the expansion of economic relations with new partners interested in accessing the natural wealth. In socioeconomic terms, the resource-rich country benefited from the soaring world market prices for several of its main export items, mainly in the mining sec- tor. The annual state budget for the first time made provision for a surplus for a second consecutive year, but the mid-term perspec- tives remained precarious in the absence of any meaningful signs of redistribution of wealth. Domestic Politics In the absence of any elections, domestic politics were character- ised by spectacular turmoil on the party political landscape. During its party congress on 4 and 5 May, the Congress of Democrats (CoD) became deeply divided over controversial elections for its leadership positions, elections that resulted in a split in the official opposition (a formal status based on the Westminster model and attached to the biggest opposition party in parliament). Both of the © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2�16 | doi 1�.1163/9789004321571_006 Namibia In 2007 63 two leading founding members of this party, which emerged dur- ing 1999 mainly from the ranks of the former liberation movement SWAPO, had earlier been deputy ministers in the SWAPO govern- ment. At this year’s congress, they were openly at loggerheads over the party’s presidency, with accusations of tribalism and misman- agement being exchanged. Party President Ben Ulenga claimed re-election after winning the votes of 155 out of 309 delegates in a second-round vote against his opponent Ignatius Shixwameni, the party’s secretary general. About 100 delegates supporting the latter, including three of the party’s five MPs, walked out in protest. They accused the Ulenga faction of manipulating the composition of the delegates. The remaining congress participants continued with the elections and filled all the posts in the party’s top struc- ture with Ulenga loyalists. Further disputes over party property, the portion of party finances allocated by the state and the party’s other assets bedevilled any efforts at reconciliation and the rivalry escalated further into irreversible rifts. The recommendations of an independent audit panel, which sought compromise solutions to overcome the crisis, were not implemented. Instead, after Ulenga announced that the dissidents had been expelled, the opponents went to court. While the matter dragged on for the remainder of the year, the opponents remained in their positions due to an interim court order. Both factions claimed to represent the legitimate CoD. In a surprise move, Shixwameni announced his resignation from the party with immediate effect on 10 December, sparking rumours that he intended to establish his own party. Meanwhile, while the CoD unravelled, a new opposition party made headlines. It was the long expected result of fundamental divisions within SWAPO. These had become visible with the side- lining of the party faction that had in mid-2004 supported Hidipo Hamutenya, the former foreign minister, as possible successor to Namibia’s first head of state and SWAPO President Sam Nujoma. The rift culminated with the expulsion of former Trade Minister Jesaya Nyamu from the party at the end of 2006. Both Hamutenya .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Immediate and Long-Term Effects of Namibia's Colonization Process
    The Immediate and Long-Term Effects of Namibia’s Colonization Process By: Jonathan Baker Honors Capstone Through Professor Taylor Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa Baker, 2 Table of Contents I. Authors Note II. Introduction III. Pre-Colonization IV. Colonization by Germany V. Colonization by South Africa VI. The Struggle for Independence VII. The Decolonization Process VIII. Political Changes- A Reaction to Colonization IX. Immediate Economic Changes Brought on by Independence X. Long Term Political Effects (of Colonization) XI. Long Term Cultural Effects XII. Long Term Economic Effects XIII. Prospects for the Future XIV. Conclusion XV. Bibliography XVI. Appendices Baker, 3 I. Author’s Note I learned such a great deal from this entire honors capstone project, that all the knowledge I have acquired can hardly be covered by what I wrote in these 50 pages. I learned so much more that I was not able to share both about Namibia and myself. I can now claim that I am knowledgeable about nearly all areas of Namibian history and life. I certainly am no expert, but after all of this research I can certainly consider myself reliable. I have never had such an extensive knowledge before of one academic area as a result of a school project. I also learned a lot about myself through this project. I learned how I can motivate myself to work, and I learned how I perform when I have to organize such a long and complicated paper, just to name a couple of things. The strange inability to be able to include everything I learned from doing this project is the reason for some of the more random appendices at the end, as I have a passion for both numbers and trivia.
    [Show full text]
  • Election Update 2004 Namibia No 1
    ELECTION UPDATE 2004 NAMIBIA number 1 5 November 2004 contents Pre-election political and policy settings 1 Political Parties 3 The Presidential Elections 5 General Elections 6 Manifestos 6 Regional Elections 9 Civil Society Participation 10 Framework for Election Conflict Prevention and Management 11 Compiled by Phaneul Kaapama EISA Editorial Team Jackie Kalley, Khabele Matlosa, Denis Kadima Published with the assistance of NORAD and OSISA Pre-election Political and dictates that the election of the Hence, in a few weeks time Policy Settings President should be by direct, Namibians will be going to the universal and equal suffrage. polls to participate in the third Introduction presidential and general Moreover, the same Article elections that are scheduled for At independence in 1990, the stipulates that no person shall November 15 and 16, 2004. Republic of Namibia, through be elected as President unless these will be followed by the its Constitution, embraced the he/she has received more than third Regional Council principles of democracy based fifty per cent (50%) of the votes elections that will be taking on electoral choice and cast and the necessary number place on November 29 and 30, multipartism. Hence, in line of ballots shall be cast until 2004. with these principles, the such result is reached. Article constitution as the formal 46(1)(a) of the constitution The raison d'etre of this source for the understanding of deals with the elections of the briefing paper is to examine the the political and governance members of the National political setting for the processes in the country lays Assembly.
    [Show full text]
  • IPPR Briefing Paper NO 44 Political Party Life in Namibia
    Institute for Public Policy Research Political Party Life in Namibia: Dominant Party with Democratic Consolidation * Briefing Paper No. 44, February 2009 By André du Pisani and William A. Lindeke Abstract This paper assesses the established dominant-party system in Namibia since independence. Despite the proliferation of parties and changes in personalities at the top, three features have structured this system: 1) the extended independence honeymoon that benefits and is sustained by the ruling SWAPO Party of Namibia, 2) the relatively effective governance of Namibia by the ruling party, and 3) the policy choices and political behaviours of both the ruling and opposition politicians. The paper was funded in part by the Danish government through Wits University in an as yet unpublished form. This version will soon be published by Praeger Publishers in the USA under Series Editor Kay Lawson. “...an emergent literature on African party systems points to low levels of party institutionalization, high levels of electoral volatility, and the revival of dominant parties.” 1 Introduction Political reform, democracy, and governance are centre stage in Africa at present. African analysts frequently point to the foreign nature of modern party systems compared to the pre-colonial political cultures that partially survive in the traditional arenas especially of rural politics. However, over the past two decades multi-party elections became the clarion call by civil society (not to mention international forces) for the reintroduction of democratic political systems. This reinvigoration of reform peaked just as Namibia gained its independence under provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution 435 (1978) and the supervision of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG).
    [Show full text]
  • Multiparty Democracy and Elections in Namibia
    MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY AND ELECTIONS IN NAMIBIA ––––––––––––– ❑ ––––––––––––– Published with the assistance of NORAD and OSISA ISBN 1-920095-02-0 Debie LeBeau 9781920 095024 Edith Dima Order from: [email protected] EISA RESEARCH REPORT No 13 EISA RESEARCH REPORT NO 13 i MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY AND ELECTIONS IN NAMIBIA ii EISA RESEARCH REPORT NO 13 EISA RESEARCH REPORT NO 13 iii MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY AND ELECTIONS IN NAMIBIA BY DEBIE LEBEAU EDITH DIMA 2005 iv EISA RESEARCH REPORT NO 13 Published by EISA 2nd Floor, The Atrium 41 Stanley Avenue, Auckland Park Johannesburg, South Africa 2006 P O Box 740 Auckland Park 2006 South Africa Tel: 27 11 482 5495 Fax: 27 11 482 6163 Email: [email protected] www.eisa.org.za ISBN: 1-920095-02-0 EISA All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of EISA. First published 2005 EISA is a non-partisan organisation which seeks to promote democratic principles, free and fair elections, a strong civil society and good governance at all levels of Southern African society. –––––––––––– ❑ –––––––––––– Cover photograph: Yoruba Beaded Sashes Reproduced with the kind permission of Hamill Gallery of African Art, Boston, MA USA EISA Research Report, No. 13 EISA RESEARCH REPORT NO 13 v CONTENTS List of acronyms viii Acknowledgements x Preface xi 1. Background to multiparty democracy in Namibia 1 Historical background 1 The electoral system and its impact on gender 2 The ‘characters’ of the multiparty system 5 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Local Authority Elections Results and Allocation of Seats
    1 Electoral Commission of Namibia 2020 Local Authority Elections Results and Allocation of Seats Votes recorded per Seats Allocation per Region Local authority area Valid votes Political Party or Organisation Party/Association Party/Association Independent Patriots for Change 283 1 Landless Peoples Movement 745 3 Aranos 1622 Popular Democratic Movement 90 1 Rally for Democracy and Progress 31 0 SWANU of Namibia 8 0 SWAPO Party of Namibia 465 2 Independent Patriots for Change 38 0 Landless Peoples Movement 514 3 Gibeon 1032 Popular Democratic Movement 47 0 SWAPO Party of Namibia 433 2 Independent Patriots for Change 108 1 Landless People Movement 347 3 Gochas 667 Popular Democratic Movement 65 0 SWAPO Party of Namibia 147 1 Independent Patriots for Change 97 1 Landless peoples Movement 312 2 Kalkrand 698 Popular Democratic Movement 21 0 Hardap Rally for Democracy and Progress 34 0 SWAPO Party of Namibia 234 2 All People’s Party 16 0 Independent Patriots for Change 40 0 Maltahöhe 1103 Landless people Movement 685 3 Popular Democratic Movement 32 0 SWAPO Party of Namibia 330 2 *Results for the following Local Authorities are under review and will be released as soon as this process has been completed: Aroab, Koës, Stampriet, Otavi, Okakarara, Katima Mulilo Hardap 2 Independent Patriots for Change 180 1 Landless Peoples Movement 1726 4 Mariental 2954 Popular Democratic Movement 83 0 Republican Party of Namibia 59 0 SWAPO Party of Namibia 906 2 Independent Patriots for Change 320 0 Landless Peoples Movement 2468 2 Rehoboth Independent Town
    [Show full text]
  • National Namibia Concerns ~ ~ 915 East 9Th Avenue· Denver, Colorado 80218 • (303) 830-2774
    National Namibia Concerns ~ ~ 915 East 9th Avenue· Denver, Colorado 80218 • (303) 830-2774 November 15, 1989 Dear friends, One Namibia! One nationl That has been the rallying cry for years as we worked to bring an end to South Africa's illegal occupation of Namibia. Last week, the Namibian people took a long step toward that goal, with their whole-hearted participation in elections that have been certified as "free and fair" by the United Nations. Enclosed are reports which show the final voting results as well as the names of the delegates from each party who will meet to draft the constitution for a free Namibia. There was surprise in some quarters about the size of the vote that went for the DTA--the South African supported political party. Indeed there were some anxious hours as the DTA actually led in the vote count until the ballots from Ovamboland came in. We feel that SWAPO's 57% was very good considering that the voter registration laws, drawn up by South Africa, permitted non-residents to vote, and that .thousands of South Africans and Angolans entered Namibia to vote for the DTA. Generally, there seems to be a feeling of rejoicing--as reflected in the statement by Bishop Kleopas Dumeni ...Joy that the elections have been held and thankfulness that there was so little violence during the week of voting. In a country that has known so much violence for so many years, the relative peacefulness of the past ten days is something that we hardly expected, and for which we are deeply grateful! We plan to publish a Namibia Newsletter within the next two weeks and hope to have more stories and pictures of the election week.
    [Show full text]
  • National Archives of Namibia Findaid 2/238
    National Archives of Namibia Findaid 2/238 Findaid 2/238 A.1058 United Nations Oral History on Namibia October 2017 National Archives of Namibia Findaid 2/238: A.1058 United Nations Oral History on Namibia Arranged by Werner Hillebrecht Windhoek, October 2017 © National Archives of Namibia & Dag Hammarskjöld Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA Republic of Namibia Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture National Archives of Namibia P/Bag 13250 Windhoek Namibia Tel. +264–61–2935211 (switchboard), 2935210 or 2935208 (reading room) Fax +264–61–2935207 [email protected] ii Findaid 2/238 United Nations Oral History A.1058 Private Accession A. 1058 United Nations Oral History on Namibia Introduction The United Nations, in cooperation with Yale University, embarked on an oral history project about the history of the UN. This included United Nations action with regard to Namibia, in particular the involvement in the transition to independence. Sixteen interviews with key players in this process were conducted in 1998 – 1999. The oral interviews as well as the transcriptions are available at Yale University and on the website of the United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjöld Library, New York. This accession consists of downloads of the digital transcriptions, which can be accessed on the local server, and printouts of the texts. The oral recordings are not available at the National Archives, and can only be accessed online via the Dag Hammarskjöld Library. Researchers should take note that the transcriptions frequently contain misspellings of personal names and place names. No effort from the side of the National Archives has been made to correct the spelling.
    [Show full text]
  • Tells It All 1 CELEBRATING 25 YEARS of DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS
    1989 - 2014 1989 - 2014 tells it all 1 CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS Just over 25 years ago, Namibians went to the polls Elections are an essential element of democracy, but for the country’s first democratic elections which do not guarantee democracy. In this commemorative were held from 7 to 11 November 1989 in terms of publication, Celebrating 25 years of Democratic United Nations Security Council Resolution 435. Elections, the focus is not only on the elections held in The Constituent Assembly held its first session Namibia since 1989, but we also take an in-depth look a week after the United Nations Special at other democratic processes. Insightful analyses of Representative to Namibia, Martii Athisaari, essential elements of democracy are provided by analysts declared the elections free and fair. The who are regarded as experts on Namibian politics. 72-member Constituent Assembly faced a We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the FOREWORD seemingly impossible task – to draft a constitution European Union (EU), Hanns Seidel Foundation, Konrad for a young democracy within a very short time. However, Adenaur Stiftung (KAS), MTC, Pupkewitz Foundation within just 80 days the constitution was unanimously and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) adopted by the Constituent Assembly and has been for their financial support which has made this hailed internationally as a model constitution. publication possible. Independence followed on 21 March 1990 and a quarter We would also like to thank the contributing writers for of a century later, on 28 November 2014, Namibians their contributions to this publication. We appreciate the went to the polls for the 5th time since independence to time and effort they have taken! exercise their democratic right – to elect the leaders of their choice.
    [Show full text]
  • Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets File:///C:/Documents and Settings/Brendelt/Desktop/Temp Rir/Country Fact
    Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets file:///C:/Documents and Settings/brendelt/Desktop/temp rir/Country Fact... Français Home Contact Us Help Search canada.gc.ca Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets Home Country Fact Sheet NIGERIA August 2007 Disclaimer This document was prepared by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on the basis of publicly available information, analysis and comment. All sources are cited. This document is not, and does not purport to be, either exhaustive with regard to conditions in the country surveyed or conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. For further information on current developments, please contact the Research Directorate. Table of Contents 1. GENERAL INFORMATION 2. POLITICAL BACKGROUND 3. POLITICAL PARTIES 4. ARMED GROUPS AND OTHER NON-STATE ACTORS ENDNOTES REFERENCES 1. GENERAL INFORMATION Official name The Federal Republic of Nigeria. Geography Nigeria is located in Western Africa . Bordering the Gulf of Guinea, its neighbouring countries are Cameroon to the east and southeast, Benin to the west, Niger to the north, and Chad to the northeast. The Niger, West Africa's largest river, passes through Nigeria and empties into the Gulf of Guinea. Nigeria has a total area of 923,768 km². The country's topography is diverse with swampy coastlands 1 of 18 9/17/2013 9:03 AM Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets file:///C:/Documents and Settings/brendelt/Desktop/temp rir/Country Fact... and tropical forests in the south, hills and plateaus in the centre, grassy plains and semi-desert in the north, and mountains in the east.
    [Show full text]
  • Spot the Difference3rd Edition Presidential and National Assembly Elections 2019
    SPOT THE DIFFERENCE3rd EDITION PRESIDENTIAL AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2019 WHOGETS YOUR VOTE? MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION Empowered lives. Resilient nations. 2 SPOT THE DIFFERENCE 2019 DISCLAIMER Between June and August, 2019, all seventeen political parties that were registered with the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), had been engaged to complete an interview questionnaire. Provision for face-to-face interviews had been arranged to take place in the first two weeks of August for those parties that could not meet the submittal deadline for the completed questionnaire. The questionnaire incorporated six questions addressing topical, socio-economic and political issues that were formulated to ensure that the Namibian electorate would be assisted to make informed decisions during the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly Elections. The decision to profile 13 political parties in this publication was based on their willingness to respond to the interview questions. Considering that a three-month period had been specified and communicated to all 17 parties, no political party was subjected to discrimination nor deliberately excluded from being featured herein IMPRINT Coordinators: NID (Naita Hishoono, Pandu Nghipandulwa) HSF (Dr Clemens von Doderer, Susanne Scholz) NMH (Carolin Guriras) UNDP (Geraldine Itana) Spot the Difference Editor: Rakkel Andreas is an NID publication Layout and design: NMH funded by HSF and Printing: Newsprint Namibia UNDP Publication date: October 2019 This publication is published by the Namibia Media Holdings (Pty) Ltd SPOT THE DIFFERENCE 2019 3 TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Prologue by the Chairperson of the Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID), Mr Kavena Hambira (P4) 2. Foreword by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Hon.
    [Show full text]
  • National Assembly Performance
    Institute for Public Policy Research Not Speaking Out: Measuring National Assembly Performance By Ellison Tjirera and Graham Hopwood IPPR Comment No. 4 September 2009 This paper analyses the amount of contributions that members of the National Assembly made to parliamentary debate from September 2005 to October 2007 as one indicator of parliamentary performance. Although it has been speculated that some members of the National Assembly contribute very little to debates on bills and motions, as far as the IPPR is aware no research since independence has actually sought to quantify how much MPs contribute to debates in the House. The principal measure used for this research paper was the number of lines each MP contributed to debate in the Hansard – the official record of parliament. Originally, the IPPR had hoped to examine Hansard from the inception of the current parliament in 2005 until mid-2009. However, this has proved impossible because Hansard is not available from October 2007 onwards since editions have not been published since then. For this reason this analysis is based on a two-year period from September 2005 to early October 2007, which was felt to be a long enough period to make an assessment of how much MPs contributed to debate. The methodology used by this research paper is restricted solely to the amount of lines that MPs have contributed to the official record of parliamentary proceedings. No attempt is made to assess the quality of those contributions as this would involve highly subjective value judgements. This paper also does not attempt to assess how MPs may contribute to other aspects of parliamentary life, for example the committee system.
    [Show full text]
  • Onetouch 4.0 Sanned Documents
    Confidential NAMIBIAN REVIEW: MARCH 2005 Confidential A BRIEF POLITICAL OVERVIEW AND CURRENT ASSESSMENT OF DIAMOND DEVELOPMENTS IN NAMIBIA 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The recent elections in Namibia saw the ruling South West African Peoples Organisation (Swapo) swept back into power with the same number of seats as the previous election in 1999. With the new presidential candidate Hifikepunye Lukas Pohamba only being inaugurated on 24 March, continuity of policy on all levels is more or less expected, given the fact that Pohamba was hand-chosen by outgoing president Sam Nujoma to replace him. Potential rivals for the Swapo presidency were dealt with in the months leading up to the elections. This included specifically Hidipo Hamutenya, once one of Swapo's favourite sons, who was unceremoniously dumped as foreign minister by Nujoma in May 2004 just days before the Swapo Congress to choose Nujoma's successor. Though defeated, Hamutenya's background and support base in amongst people _ who were part of Swapo's Peoples Uberation Army of Namibia (Plan), will ensure that he emerges once again as Pohamba's chief challenger for the position in five years time. The opposition remains weak and in general disarray with the once powerful Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) , having lost nearly half the parliamentary seats it had prior to the last elections. As far as developments on the diamond front are concerned the report makes the following broad points: • Continuity in the government's diamond policy can be expected under Pohamba. • Lev Leviev has been the driving force behind changes in Namibia's mining legislation in 1999 and further changes being contemplated for the near future.
    [Show full text]