<! –

->

By Magreth Nunuhe and Annines Angula

Windhoek – Six secretaries general (SG) of former liberation movements and ruling parties of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) vowed to vigorously oppose propaganda and attacks against their parties and their leaders before the 2019 elections.

The six parties are Namibia Swapo, ANC South Africa, MPLA Angola, ZANU-PF Zimbabwe, FRELIMO Mozambique and CCM Tanzania.

While the MPLA and ZANU-PF have won the elections and have already inaugurated new governments in 2017 and 2018, the four other parties in power (Swapo, ANC, FRELIMO and CCM) will go to the polls in the national and presidential elections of 2019.

The six SGs, who paid a courtesy call on Namibian President Hage Geingob at State House in Windhoek yesterday, also met during the week to reaffirm their mission and vision as early liberation movements and to go vain ".

S addressing Geingob and speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Swapo SG, Sophia Shaningwa, said that they would campaign vigorously to "touch the hearts of our masses in rural areas to understand the visions. and the missions of our blood shed revolution. " ".

Shaningwa said that at their meeting, they discussed the success of their parties in the elections.

"We realized that we often face challenges, sometimes social and economic, and that we have decided together, as organizations, to become the driving force of our parties," she said.

She added that they had also discussed issues related to the political landscape of the reporting period, particularly in the context of former liberation movements and political parties, which led to protracted processes and recovery. confidence in the leadership of the ruling parties and in the economies of the countries.

In particular, the Secretary-General of Swapo emphasized that serious problems of concern, such as factionalism, tribalism, racism and sexism, should be rejected.

In particular, Shaningwa expressed concern over the negative use of social media and promised to begin to thwart attacks on parties and their leaders.

The SGs also condemned the "unjustified and unjust attacks on the good relations between African countries and China, which were highlighted by the Beijing FOCAC summit".

Shaningwa said these negative feelings were being manipulated by Western forces responsible for colonialism in Africa, who now saw relations between Africa and China as a threat to their strategic interests.

Roque Silva Samuel, SG of FRELIMO, said that they were still attacked by their enemies, which means that "our struggle makes sense".

"We started to face rallies in the streets. Our enemies were expecting a loss of more than 50% (votes), but they were disappointed by the results, "he said, saying that some ambassadors from Western countries were also involved in the campaign financing.

Alvaro Manuel Boavida Neto, MPLA SG, said the reason for the victory was "the vitality of our presidents".

"We must not lose the meaning of our struggle. Presidents are at the forefront of our struggle. We Secretaries General must ensure our victories, "he said.

"Neto, they seemed divided, but the division between their former president, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and our president, João Lourenço, was created on the outside.

"We are convinced that we are all united. We will face these challenges, "he said.

For his part, President Hage Geingob said that in any democracy, there were free and fair elections and "we win".

He added that even when the ruling party wins the elections democratically, they are asked to form strong opposition.

"In the case of Namibia, the opposition is weak because we are working very hard. Then they say you need a strong press – the press becomes somehow an opposition, "he noted, saying that he did not want to condemn the press, however.

Geingob said that the opposition and the press sometimes collaborated to attack the government.

He also recognized civil society as a very important element of democracy.

In hindsight, the president said some people were campaigning to get them out because they had spent too much time in the office.

"But no one says you fought too long, why do not you give in? They did not tell us to go out when we fought too long," he said.