Bezuidenhout replaces Nambinga as RDP president

NKURENKURU, 13 AUG – Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) vice president, Steve Bezuidenhout has been appointed as the party’s interim president until it holds an elective convention later this year.
This was confirmed by RDP secretary-general Mike Kavekotora in an interview with Nampa on Sunday.
The decision was taken by RDP’s highest decision-making body, the central committee on Saturday when it convened to chart the way forward in the wake of its president, Jeremiah Nambinga’s resignation on Thursday.

“We resolved that since the date for our elective convention has already been set, there is no need for an extraordinary convention,” Kavekotora said.
Bezuidenhout will be the party’s interim president until after its elective congress in November.
Kavekotora further confirmed Nambinga’s resignations as president and as member of the party.

“We received a letter dated 10 August 2018 from him in which he indicated that he had resigned as president and as party member,” said Kavekotora.
Asked what Nambinga’s resignations mean to the party, Kavekotora said: “If you look at his conduct and that he instigated people against attending National Executive Committee [NEC] meetings and his insistence that he should go to Parliament despite the congress saying the contrary, I am not surprised that he is gone.”

However, what puzzles him is why Nambinga dragged the party to court when he had intentions to leave.
Last year, Nambinga hauled the party to court to have the vote of no confidence passed in him declared null and void. RDP’s NEC had passed the vote of no confidence amid claims that under Nambinga’s watch, the party no longer upheld its core values and principles.

Nevertheless, in April this year, the Windhoek High Court issued an order that the vote of no confidence by the NEC on 12 August 2017 was illegal and invalid.
In a separate interview on Saturday, Nambinga accused local media of having misquoted him and of distorting facts.

“I resigned from the party. I was misquoted by the New Era and I was just surprised because I don’t know why you journalists find it appropriate to distort information,” charged Nambinga.
He claimed that the newspaper only reported that he resigned as RDP president, but omitted the fundamental fact that he also resigned as member of the party.

Nambinga further made it clear that he has no intention of forming or joining any political formation.
The former party president refused to comment on his time as RDP president, particularly his strained relationship with the party’s secretary-general (SG), Mike Kavekotora.

“It will be irrelevant to comment on anything that has to do with RDP. Whatever had happened in RDP during my tenure has now become water under the bridge,” said Nambinga.
Since its establishment in 2007, RDP has seen two presidents, the late Hidipo Hamutenya who resigned in 2014 and Nambinga. – NAMPA