Haufiku dismisses Netumbo’s RDP ties

THE first Director-General of Administration of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) Libolly Haufiku has come out in the open to rubbish what he described as dirty campaign tactics linking Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to RDP.

“The labeling of meme Netumbo as a RDP member is a campaign by those who are hard at work to derail her campaign.

The clique is at work again to tarnish an innocent person.”

In an exclusive interview with Confidente’s reporter Tracy Tafirenyika, Haufiku stressed that since he was the first, Director-General of Administration of RDP, he was compelled to clear the air on this issue which the distractors keep bringing up.

Haufiku said he was in charge of the membership database and “she was never our member but her sister meme Kalimba was a member.”

TT: Good afternoon Mr. Libolly Haufiku and thank you for granting us this interview regarding the character assassination and unorthodox de-campaigning methods against current Swapo Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. Please tell us exactly what is happening?

LH: I would like to state from the onset that I have no interest whatsoever in my observation of the inner Swapo Party politics. As a Namibian patriot who believes in fairness, I have been following the Swapo Party intraparty campaign with keen interest.

However, despite the set rules of engagement, there are some Swapo members who are not adhering to those rules and are involved in dirty tricks and smear campaigns. I think some of the de-campaigning strategies did not work hence they opted for the ‘RDP Label’, which they believe will affect Netumbos’ campaign.

TT: What do you think prompted the “labelling of meme Netumbo as an RDP member?

LH: As someone who was once a member of Swapo Party, the labeling of other comrades has unfortunately been a Swapo culture – from the time in exile and after independence. I can very well recall when well-known Swapo stalwarts and ordinary members were labeled as ‘agents of imperialist’ during the 2004 Swapo Congress. We know exactly what happened thereafter. History is repeating itself and such labeling is done out of fear of that person or those people targeted.

TT: From which quarters are these dirty political campaign tactics emanating from?

LH: First and foremost, there are 3 candidates running for the Presidency. Either there are loose cannons out there, who are carrying out this dirty campaigns or there is a deliberate attempts by some in the competition to smear dirty on others.

The strange thing is, those who set the rules are not taking any action, then one wonders why set the rules in the first place and not enforced them? 

TT: How long have these dirty campaigning methods been doing the rounds?

LH: If you can recall, soon after the formation of the RDP, there was a hostile political atmosphere in the country. Every Kwanyama speaking person who was in either Swapo or government was labeled as an RDP hibernator. So this issue comes  long way but it is ironic that those continuing with this labeling could allow Netumbo to be elected as Swapo VP without questioning her loyalty and membership to Swapo. Why allow themselves to be led by an RDP member, is the question to be asked.

TT: How and when did you learn about these?

LH: Obviously from social media and it has become more and louder as the campaign reaches its critical stage. In one of the WhatsApp groups I belong to, I challenged someone who was promoting this labeling and since then, that topic is dead.

TT: Why did you see the obligation to come out and clear the air regarding the labelling of meme Netumbo as an RDP member?

LH: As I said from the beginning, I am a strong believer in fairness and honesty. I could not standby knowing what I know Netumbo was never an RDP member and simply keep quite. I was the first RDP Director General of Administration. I was the custodian of the membership database under the Office of the Secretary General. That meant, every newly registered member countrywide, their names were send to the HQ, where we entered them on the database.

In honesty, Netumbo was never our member unless people want to confuse her with her older sister, meme Cannar Kalimba who was our member. Meme Kalimba was a member of our National Executive and Central Committee (CC) of RDP.

This is no secret at all. 

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