Toivo Ndjebela
1 June 2011
Windhoek — Swapo Secretary-General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana this week moved to seek clari-ty on allegations that party leader Alpheus !Naruseb had issued death threats against trade unionist Evilastus Kaaronda.
New Era understands that Iivula-Ithana sought clarity on the disturbing reports by speaking to both Kaaronda and !Naruseb, as well as Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Alpheus Muheua.
Iivula-Iithana confirmed this when approached for comment yesterday, but conceded details pertaining to the allegations remain skimpy.
The Swapo SG said both !Naruseb and Muheua told her that the issue of the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), over which the death threats were allegedly issued against Kaaronda was not discussed at the said meeting.
Kaaronda though, maintained that the GIPF issue was indeed discussed and that he was a victim of death threats that were directed at him by !Naruseb.
“I told Comrade !Naruseb to clear the issue with Comrade Kaaronda because my office as secretary general has limited authority to deal with this issue, especially when you have contrasting versions,” Iivula-Ithana told New Era.
Iivula-Ithana said the Swapo politburo mandated !Naruseb and Attorney-General Albert Kawana to meet the leadership of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) for the sole purpose of reviewing an accord that the federation and Swapo agreed to in the 1990s.
“I spoke to comrades !Naruseb, Kaaronda and Muheua. Both comrade !Naruseb and Muheua are saying the issue of the GIPF was never raised in that meeting. Comrade Kaaronda says it was,” she said.
Iivula-Ithana said she was “flabbergasted” by reports that !Naruseb had told Kaaronda in the said meeting that ‘drop the GIPF issue unless you have a death wish’.
“!Naruseb did not have a mandate from the party to make such remarks. I doubt he did this and if he did, it was in his private capacity,” she said.
The justice minister said she has worked closely with !Naruseb for a long time, describing the lands minister as a “non-violent or emotional person.”
“I therefore don’t understand how he might have said such things because he is not the kind of person who would make such remarks,” a worried Iivula-Ithana said.
In a media release that he issued last Friday, Kaaronda, stated: it is ‘sheer cowardice’ that !Naruseb is denying what ‘he so very much knows he said’ during that meeting.
Kaaronda tore into NUNW president Elias Manga, and close ally Muheua, for denying knowledge of the alleged threats when approached by the media for confirmation of the incident.
“Now that this is out in my own words, I challenge comrades Muheua and Manga to still dispute and or deny,” Kaaronda said in the statement.
!Naruseb could not be reached for comment, while a message left with his personal assistant was not answered at the time of going to press.
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