PDM readies for the post-Venaani era

Rudolf Gaiseb Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) secretary general Manuel Ngaringombe says the party is in a sound financial state despite claiming bankruptcy in late 2024 and after spending between N$6 and N$8 million on election campaigns. Ngaringombe revealed these during an interview with this reporter earlier this week, noting the party’s survival is not tied to a single individual, as no one is irreplaceable. While the upcoming transition marks the end of an era for the current presidency under party leader McHenry Venaani, the party views it as a test of its structural integrity. The party is navigating a path of revamping itself while also charting strict constitutional mandates and a philosophy of collective leadership. In a recent sit-down with New Era, Ngaringombe said that unlike other political entities in Namibia, the PDM is the only party that enforces specific time frames and term limits for its leaders, including the presidency. Venaani is currently serving his final term, a transition necessitated by the party’s unique rules. Venaani first became leader of the then DTA in 2013, beating his mentor, the late Katuutire Kaura. At the time, he garnered 96 votes against Kaura’s 52 out of 148 votes cast. Four years later, DTA would rebrand and transition into PDM, further extending Venaani’s reign at the top. When the party goes to its next intra-party elections, Venaani would have been at its helm for over 15 years. According to Ngaringombe, the party’s approach to succession rejects the traditional notion of “grooming” a specific individual, which he likens to a private family business. He pointed out that, instead, the PDM focuses on wide-scale capacity building that involves training and empowering leaders across all structures, from the youth league and women’s league to the elders council and regional coordinators. This means when the national congress convenes in late 2028 or 2029, any member, whether a branch leader or a high-ranking official, has the democratic right to compete for the presidency. “The party is not for the president. The party is of the people. What the president must do and what the party must do must have clear transition outlines in its constitution. The president can come from a branch, a branch leader. It can come from one of the regional coordinators, because when you go to a congress, you take all these structures along as part of the congress. So, to just groom two or three or one person, it’s not the best,” he said. Finances Meanwhile, during the 2024/2025 elections, PDM spent an estimated N$6 to N$8 million. “The party remains financially sound,” he said while indicating that they are recovering from these election costs through parliamentary allocations and their own portfolio of properties and land in Walvis Bay, Oshakati, and Rundu. “We have properties throughout the country. We have movable properties, and some are here, some are parked somewhere in the regions,” he said. Beyond politics, the PDM states it has invested in social projects, such as providing water taps in the Kavango regions to prevent crocodile attacks and assisting with food aid during poisoning crises in Kunene. “We keep serving our people. We are paying our staff and doing our day-to-day activities. We have money to run our fixed expenditures and so forth,” he said. “We still keep serving our people. We have money to run our fixed expenditures and so forth. We are recovering from an election,” he added. – rgaiseb@nepc.com