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Want some insight in Namibian politics? I am no expert but have 16 years (1995-2011) of writing on Namibian politics in The Namibian newspaper and can probably offer you a bit more than you know about the who's who in the Namibian political zoo. You will also find a few articles commenting on other issues of concern in the country. Hope you find it interesting. - Christof

Sunday, October 10, 2010

RDP/RP Merger: A Marriage Of Convenience And Survival

IN the Damara and Nama cultures marriage is a family affair. You can be rich as a bridegroom-to-be but will never be allowed to organise and marry alone. In fact, whoever wants to marry a Damara or Nama woman is likely to be sent home to get his ‘parents’.

Family must have a say, no matter how poor or insignificant they might appear.
Towards the end of negotiations for a bride, the family of the bride-to-be are likely to ask for a ‘apa gomas’. Others refer to it as lobola. With Damaras and Namas, it is a cow which will be handed over to the mother or guardian of the wife-to-be and the idea is to keep it in the family kraal as the ‘seed’ for the couple’s new life as (part-time) farmers. Their children will one day live off it, the elders will say.
The recent political merger between the Rally for Democracy and Progress and the Republican Party represents a similar marriage.
As the Republican Party was formed in October 1977 when Dirk Mudge left the National Party, it is no longer a young bride. It has one divorce behind it after leaving (in 2003) a disastrous marriage – the DTA alliance.
That’s when Henk Mudge, son of founder Dirk Mudge, was entrusted to reactivate the party and target the lost white vote.
For me, the idea was to continue the Mudge political dynasty and it succeeded to an extent when the RP won seats in seven local authorities councils and one for Henk Mudge in the 2004 National Assembly elections.
Mudge made no secret that he was targeting the white vote, claiming that they were being “seriously discriminated against” but the pipe-smoking politician also targeted a section of Damaras through several pentecostal churches as well as people in and around Katima Mulilo.
Therefore, while progress was made in expanding the support base of the party in especially Khomas, Caprivi and Erongo regions in 2004, the scale was still decidedly almost non-existent, especially in the North where the biggest number of voters reside.
Their total number of votes in the 2004 National Assembly elections were 16 187 but because the Namibian democracy is unfortunately littered with a series of party infightings (which have resulted in some failed projects), the RP failed to overcome ego politics and become a strong opposition.
The results were very evident last year when the party collected only 6 541 votes throughout the country.
While they were able to get one seat in Katima in 2004, the RP only managed to collect 79 votes in November last year.
At Keetmans, where they also have a local councillor, only 293 people cast their votes for the party while their support in Khomas went down from 5 040 in 2004 to 1 812 last year.
It became clear that the RP membership was dwindling and that the party, if it continued on its own, would struggle to stay afloat.
The Mudges had to look towards Hidipo Hamutenya, with whom they had serious past animosities.
Interestingly, Mudge’s RP was the first political party which, when Hamutenya resigned from Swapo in 2007, issued a statement to welcome his decision. Maybe then already Henk Mudge had a vision and saw Hamutenya as a potential comrade.
There is no doubt that it is a marriage of survival for the Mudge family and one of convenience for Hamutenya.
As RP has been dwindling over the past couple of years, there is not much in it for RDP.
Yet, they seem to have paid the ‘apa gomas’ (lobola) as Henk Mudge first needed to consult and get the blessing of his parents before walking up the aisle.
In fact, last year’s election results indicated that the RDP benefitted big time from the support base of the likes of RP and the Congress of Democrats.
The majority of supporters whom Mudge claim to join RDP with, are already there! They saw the ship sinking and jumped some time ago.
Therefore, it will be interesting to see how the RDP will cope with demands by a few RP leaders and how long it will be before Hamutenya is served with divorce papers by the Mudges.
So at the end the merger is really much (read Mudge) ado about nothing.

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