Thread: Sea of people SWAPO rocks in Oshakati. President thrilled by huge crowd.

From SWAPO Party

By Levi Upula

Tens of thousands of SWAPO Party members and supporters in Oshana Region flexed their muscles last weekend and demonstrated that Oshakati Soccer Stadium should be two times bigger if it wanted to accommodate them all.

This was the largest rally ever held by SWAPO Party since the campaign started some weeks ago. The crowd was so big that even President Hifikepunye Pohamba, who was the main speaker, could not believe his eyes.

Some people had to go back as they could not fit in the stadium. Even as people started singing the National Anthem to close the rally, hundreds of people were still arriving.



“I have never seen a huge crowd like this,” he remarked amid ululations and chanting of liberation slogans. “The last time I saw a huge crowd like this was in 1989. Viva SWAPO Party Viva!

“During the coming elections, I urge you to vote for your future by voting for me as a presidential candidate and for the SWAPO Party. Let us march together in unity towards a landslide victory in November.”

President Pohamba chronicled the achievements made by the SWAPO Party government since independence, saying that at independence many communities especially in rural areas had no basic amenities such as potable water, healthcare, housing, electricity, jobs and social security. He said that the SWAPO Party government abolished bantu education, which was only meant to train people as a source of cheap labour. SWAPO Party government abolished this and replaced it with a system that served the interest of the nation.

“Our SWAPO Party government has created the facilities for the education of our children,” said President Pohamba. “We built hundreds of schools and additional classrooms as well as hostels across the country to accommodate school children.

“We have done this because we recognized that our people were deliberately left behind and could never reach their full potential if we did not prioritize education.”

Healthcare was the privilege of a few. Thousands of people had little or no access to health services in the rural areas to which they were restricted. The SWAPO Party government built new hospitals, clinics, health centers and renovated existing ones, thus providing a broad spectrum of healthcare services to the people.

“The SWAPO Party focused its attention on addressing the challenges facing the majority of our people,” he said. “We focused especially on the previously disadvantaged groups.

“We therefore adopted policies to address labour issues, introduced social safety nets and increased access to land through resettlement. We enacted the Labour Act. We set up the Social Security Commission, SCC. We adopted a land reform policy.

“Today, our nation enjoys greater prosperity and equity than at independence. The benefits of our hard-won independence slowly but surely reaches all corners of our country.”

Oshana now has 132 schools, of which 59 are primary schools and the other 64 are secondary and combined schools. There are also six private schools. Most of those schools were built after independence.

“I urge all of you to vote for SWAPO Party and for Hifikepunye Pohamba as SWAPO Party Presidential candidate,” said President Pohamba.