WINDHOEKTOIVO NDJEBELA
It will soon be back-to-school for Swapo cadres, after the party's politburo this week approved the module for the training of its members at what will be known as the Swapo Party School.
The school, Swapo secretary-general Nangolo Mbumba said yesterday, will offer teachings about the history of Namibia and that of the party itself. The lessons would be given from Swapo's own perspective, Mbumba told reporters.
Largely seen as a means to correct wayward members and contain the growing incidences of rebellion within its ranks, the school has been on the radar of Swapo for years, but never came into being.
But with the politburo approving the school's module, the idea is seemingly taking shape, although Mbumba did not shed enough light on the matter yesterday.
“The party school will produce party cadres of high calibre who will be able to articulate the party's ideology and provide leadership to the broad membership of the party,” he said.
Swapo's sister party, the ANC of South Africa, owns a similar school - the Walter Sisulu Leadership Academy - from which 600 political education students graduated last year.
Named after Walter Sisulu, the ANC deputy president from 1991 to 1994, the school offers modules covering subjects such as organising skills, the history of South Africa and of the ANC, party strategy and structures, as well as analysis.
Swapo has often been marred by incidences of ill-discipline among its members, something often blamed on the ignorance of such cadres about the inner workings, policies and ideologies of the party.
A string of suspensions, disciplinary proceedings and expulsions of some members from Swapo are partly blamed on a lack of strategy in the party to ensure that sure matters are prevented.
It is not clear where the school will be and how much it would cost the party to establish.