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FORMER prime minister Nahas Angula has called on members of the ruling party’s central committee to consider the political implications of not including Jerry Ekandjo in the Swapo vice presidential race.

Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, Angula accused Swapo of hiding behind legal opinions, adding that the matter is more political.

“The issue of Jerry Ekandjo is not only legal, it is political. We must realise that, we should not hide behind legality and try to dance around legal faces. You have to look at the political implications of the case,” Angula said.

Ekandjo made himself available to be among Swapo vice presidential candidates during the party’s nomination process, but failed to garner enough votes.

Last month, he threatened to take legal action over his exclusion from the list of candidates for the party’s vice presidency at the upcoming elective congress.

The central committee is expected to hold a special meeting today to discuss the inclusion of Ekandjo on the list of aspiring vice presidential candidates.

One of the three surviving founders of Swapo, Helao Vinnia Ndadi has also questioned Ekandjo’s exclusion from contesting the party’s vice presidency.

“On the question of Jerry Ekandjo, he has been a leader for Swapo since the beginning of the struggle. When we left this country to go abroad, Jerry Ekandjo was one of the people who kept the party alive. They went through all the hardships,” Ndadi said in reference to the role Ekandjo played during the war of independence.

“So, why [does] he now have to suffer, that is something questionable? What Jerry Ekandjo is undergoing now is not something one can understand, especially some of us who know how hard he has worked until he was taken to Robben Island.”

Ndadi, founding president Sam Nujoma and former trade and industry minister Ben Amathila are the only living members of the original group that formed Swapo in 1960.

GEINGOB NOT TO BLAME

Angula, who is part of a group of Swapo veterans that is calling on the party leadership to address factionalism and unity, has drawn the ire of State House, after his earlier comments about the treatment of Ekandjo by the party.

The Presidency in a statement published yesterday said that Ekandjo has been sabotaged for the vice president candidacy of Swapo.

This was after Angula was quoted by a daily newspaper as saying Ekandjo is justified in feeling discriminated against and that he should be given a chance to contest the party’s vice presidency.

The Presidency said president Hage Geingob cannot be blamed for Ekandjo’s recent political misfortunes.

“It is the people’s democracy within Swapo, which has on several occasions denied comrade Ekandjo the opportunity to ascend to the top leadership positions,” read the statement.

“It is, therefore, blatantly obvious that the view of comrade Angula that comrade Ekandjo is getting a raw deal from the proceedings of Swapo , specifically those of the central committee, which validated three candidates following the withdrawal of comrade Frans Kapofi from the vice presidential race, is clearly misplaced,” the Presidency said.

The Swapo central committee has validated the party vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, prime minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and environment minister Pohamba Shifeta.

Defence and veteran affairs minister Frans Kapofi has withdrawn from the contest.

In February 2018, Geingob fired Ekandjo and Pendukeni Iivula-Iithana from Cabinet, three months after the duo challenged him for the Swapo president position.

The Presidency claimed that Geingob fired the former ministers because they failed to indicate their willingness to work under his leadership.