Namibia
Namibian President forced to drop women's quota

Misanet.com / The Namibian, 27 August - Amid claims of "dictatorial behaviour", as well as unprecedented heckling, Namibian President Sam Nujoma on Sunday dropped plans to nominate 21 women to the Central Committee of the ruling SWAPO party.

President Nujoma threw in the towel only after he received legal advice that the allocation of 21 seats as a quota for women would be against the SWAPO constitution and to show that he is not a dictator, several delegates told 'The Namibian'.

Before giving in, Nujoma reportedly remarked: "You are calling me a dictator," before he reminded delegates that a resolution was passed at the previous Congress to increase the proportion of women delegates to men up to 50 percent of the Congress attendance.

Earlier in the day, he remained adamant that he would appoint 21 women, leading to three adjournments of the party's Congress. Having failed to get half of the delegates as women, Nujoma, responding to the lobbying of some in the women's leadership, decided to push for a quota on the Central Committee.

But by Sunday resistance had built against the quota of 21 women, which would have left only 36 positions available in the election. Many party stalwarts, most of them Ministers, feared they would have lost out to people who would have been "brought in by wheelchair", according to an expression widely used by delegates.

Said a delegate from the Ohangwena constituency: "Some of the senior Ministers went against that, saying it will be unconstitutional. They opposed it completely. We had three breaks [on Sunday] in-between discussions until the lawyers got together with the 'old man' saying the constitution requires direct elections."

The decision to have a 25 percent quota of women on the 83-strong Central Committee was made by the same Committee two weeks ago as a compromise after President Nujoma did not name any women among his candidates for the top party posts.

Nujoma raised the issue at the Congress on Thursday, sending a wave of panic through the old guard, who began to mobilise against the quota. The controversy became more heated outside Congress when some prominent women in the party continued to lobby the President.

By Sunday, opposition had become vocal and was hinged on the legality of the appointments President Nujoma intended to make. The SWAPO party's constitution states that 57 people should be directly elected at Congress, in addition to the President, Vice President, Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General.

The President had already caused unhappiness when he made it clear that anyone opposing his candidates would be seen as forming factions within the party. As a result Nujoma's nomination of Hifikepunye Pohamba for SWAPO Vice President, Ngarikutuke Tjiriange for Secretary General and John Pandeni as Deputy Secretary General, went through unopposed. 

One delegate said the day was saved by Petrus Damaseb, head of the election team, who refused to run the process outside the rules and procedures. Some said the election team threatened to pull out if the party's own constitution and agreed election procedures were flouted. 

President Nujoma faced such persistent opposition, delegates said, that some heckled in disagreement every time he tried to push the issue. The impasse was broken when Nujoma reportedly suggested that another resolution be passed to ensure that more women were members of the Central Committee in the future.

A decision has been taken that in future Congress "consider reserving the first 21 seats" on the Central Committee for "women comrades". The elections then went ahead as planned, and women fared poorly, gaining 13 seats.

At the time of going to press, SWAPO leaders could not be reached for comment as they were either at Congress or Heroes Acre.

Based on an article by Tangeni Amupadhi and Max Hamata, 'The Namibian'

 

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