Caprivi Vision editor Risco Lumamezi had an exclusive interview with the Independent Candidate for Katima Mulilo Urban Constituency Mr.Daniel Milomo Matengu, a science school teacher and law student , the popularly known musical artist and a film marker, who catalogued his ambition to participate in the upcoming Regional and Local Authority Elections slated for November 25, 2020.
- Mr.Matengu, we understand that you have been nominated to field for the upcoming Regional Councils Elections for Katima Urban on November 25, 2020.What can you say about this?
Yes it’s true, I have been nominated as one of the candidates contesting for the Katima Mulilo Urban Constituency elections coming up in November the 25th, and I am very confident that our people will vote wisely and together we will be victorious because through Christ all things are made possible, and this to us is a divine mission to lead our people into a promised life of prosperity.
- Would you tell us about yourself?
My name is Daniel Milomo Matengu, I am 40 years of age, I was born at Chefuzwe in the Zambezi region, I am a high school science teacher by profession and also an LLB law student.
I am currently a resident of Windhoek where I am working as a teacher. I am also an Affirmative Repositioning Activist who started with this year’s elections mobilisation earlier this year alongside activist Mweemba, activist Chrypher, activist Uugwanga and activist Musweu, a move which was not well taken by the local authorities who instructed law enforcement officials to monitor our activities.
- When did you join Namibian politics and Why?
My political ambitions started early when I was just 10 years old, it was sparked by the kind of life conditions I was exposed to living in our informal settlements of Lewis, Piggery and Cowboy, life was not easy as me and my siblings were single-handedly being raised by a single mother, we endured a life lacking all basic services, I had to be studying in street lights during exams if there was no candle, had to fetch water a couple of kilometres away, had to walk kilometres into the bushes for toilet facilities, had to walk several kilometres to go fetch fire wood for cooking with, after school we had to go help selling cakes and etc at the open market where we would sell while doing homework at the same time.
While all these things were happening, we were also seeing how comfortably others lives were, as time went by I realised that no matter how hard one worked, for as long as you are not connected somehow to someone then all your efforts goes to waste because of the government system we have which is designed in such a way that it allows those in authority to enrich themselves and forget about us all, this made me realise that I have a responsibility one day to join politics and become part of the system and change it from within as I will change things to make sure that nobody ever again grow under the same circumstances I endured growing and also to make sure that I open up opportunities for all our people to benefit equally from the resources our nation having.
The writing of my manifesto started in 2010, that’s 10 years ago, that’s when I also joined the SWAPO party youth league in Windhoek.
I have been attending most meetings but I was not very actively vocal just yet.
In 2014 when AR was formed, I immediately joined the movement, but first as a supporter and sympathiser, then I immediately started being vocal via social media on Facebook where I was involved in many national and political debates and information sharing with other Facebook users.
Three years ago I started writing letters to the Namibian president, Dr Hage Geingob, sharing some of my ideas for him to implement both in our region and Namibia at large but I was ignored, that’s when I realised I have to step in by myself and try to implement these things that are being ignored by our government.
I went on being very active via social media till last year when I became very active as now an AR activist as we helped mobilise for Dr Panduleni Itula for presidency and Mr Lukato Lukato for parliament.
My decision to contest this year came last year when I realised this is the right time for me to make a move as I realised life just got more complicated for the whole nation and another five years of poor leadership will just cause more sufferings for our people, therefore I decided to contest, first I wanted to become a mayor, but after I understood the requirements, I realised I cannot qualify for the local authorities because of my Windhoek residency status, seeing that it’s the same territory as of the Urban Constituency, I decided to contest for Councillor instead because the manifesto is more or less similar, and here I am, an Independent Candidate for the Katima Mulilo Urban Constituency.
- What is your ideology for these coming elections?
My ideology for this coming election is centred on job creation and infrastructure development coupled with service delivery to all residents of Katima Mulilo in both formal and informal settlements.
Development requires proper planning fuelled by a vision, I have that vision and I did a very good plan therefore development is certain with my plan.
- What do you think as an Independent Candidate you can do for the residents of Katima Mulilo, and the entire region and the country at Large?
As an independent Councillor, I will be very helpful for I will not be limited by any party constitution as to where I will be getting funds for financing projects, I will have multiple sources of funding and I will also introduce projects which never existed before in our region, I am bringing thousands of jobs in our planned farms, factories, shops and etc which will make our people afford to buy or rent from the affordable cheap houses we will build for our people.
- Young people are still facing a lot of challenges in order to realise their dreams in an independent country Namibia,as a youth representing the majority of this country, what change can you make to have them taking up the leadership?
Our youths have been neglected by our current system, youths project proposals being turned down, all efforts in any area blocked, this made many youths fail to achieve their dreams and end up quitting.
This must not be the case anymore for I am coming in to open opportunities for our youths to thrive in every area they choose to pursue as they follow their dreams.
From now on all youths project proposals will be approved then financed and implemented.
Our youths must also familiarise themselves with our governing laws of our country for them to know their rights so that they can be vocal without any fear of being victimised out of their drive to speak up on issues that concerns their well being.
I urge the youths to join the AR movement for it is currently the only youths movement which is legitimate and fights for the well being of all people in the whole country despite your age, race, colour, political affiliation etc.
- Other thinkers have just said that democracy is looking after the majorities and not the unpopular minorities, in your view what can you say about Namibia’s Multiparty System?
Namibia’s multiparty system is being abused to a point whereby elections had become nothing but entertainment, many mushrooming political parties have for years divided the opposition votes during elections making the SWAPO party win and remain in power.
All opposition parties were supposed to team up in an effort to win the elections against SWAPO, that way anyone in position of authority will know that once he doesn’t deliver, one can easily be voted out and this will make our office bearers serious with executing their duties once in office.
- We are informed that Katima Urban Constituency is going to be contested with four (4) Independent Candidates including yourself,how do you regard yourself to be the winner ?
Yes it’s true, Katima Urban has four independent candidates contesting including myself.
I was the first one of the four to bid for this constituency, I launched my bid early this year .
But believe me our people are not blind, they know who is in this for legitimate reasons and who is in this out of greed, jealous, hate, pride, hunger for self enrichment etc.
With all this, I presented a well researched manifesto which many people are very impressed with, and from that manifesto I won more support and people who want to see all that is in my manifesto come to pass, they are all determined to vote for me.
I am the only candidate who released a detailed complete manifesto so far making me the most better prepared one.
I know my God will make me victorious as he speaks to the hearts of our electorates for them to choose the right leader.
- Among your contenders, one is from your mother party AR which failed to meet the deadline to register for Katima , do you think that this will confuse your voters and political base in order to win ?
It is unfortunate that we have two candidates both from the same AR movement, this led to the movement not endorsing any one of us, the other candidate knew I have been campaigning for the whole year but just came in the last minute as a weapon from our opponents just to weaken my chances of winning, I consider him a spoiler.
It’s true many people will get confused as to who to vote for since we are two, but those who will take time to scrutinise us and discover what our plans, aims and objectives are will definitely vote for me for they will find out that I am the most capable one and the most prepared one among them all.
- How are you going to convince the electorate to vote for you ?
So far I made my plans known to our people, for the whole year many people have been engaging me on my plans and as usual I have been responding.
I am now left with the task of meeting the electorates face to face as I will be explaining my manifesto to them and answer all questions they might have.
Believe me my plan is the best for our people and they will all vote for me so that I implement everything that I promised them.
- The ruling party SWAPO of Namibia has been sitting on Katima Urban as its strong hold for the last 28 years, how are you going to unseat them to win the 2020 elections?
I am currently busy explaining my manifesto to the electorates as I have been doing via social media, now am going down on the ground and talk to the people explaining to them what my plans are, our people want and need change and I am very sure that the plan I have is indeed the one going to bring change in our region…
Our people just need to know what we are planning to do for them as more jobs will be created and more affordable land serviced for them with quality housing built for them as well as basic services provided to them, our people will vote for change this year and believe me SWAPO is not winning this year.
- Where is your stronghold in Katima, and is it worthwhile to win with or without a political base?
I don’t really have a specific stronghold for I believe I am reaching everyone in the whole Katima Mulilo town at the same time via different media platforms and ground work campaign.
- We have seen many promises on your election manifesto, on your top 25 programs you have indicated two (2) programs about the constructions of the state of the art music and video production studios, you as a celebrity, musician and film marker why are you regarding these among your key priorities?
Among many other projects planned for the Katima Mulilo Urban Constituency, I also planned to fund local music producers and film makers to open state of the art studios to boost local production of both music and local films, this is due to the fact that I understand the difficulties our arts industry in the Zambezi region is facing, we have many talented people in Katima but the resources are limited and those that are there are not of high standard, therefore we will boost the arts industry to an international level.
- What is your other promises in your election manifesto and why?
My other promises are centred on job creation through farms and companies we are coming to open, Katima farm will resume operation among many other plantations I stated in the manifesto, we are also going to formalise informal settlements providing free low cost houses to the poor and cheap sells of these houses to the low earners, these houses will be equipped with pre-paid water and electricity, plots will all be serviced and equipped with sewage and drainage network, street roads tarred and equipped with street lights to prevent crime in the darkness.
We will be opening many recreational facilities such as cinema for all and Disney land for the kids, we will improve our health system to stop referrals of our patients to Rundu and Windhoek, we will modernise our education system to meet the prevention standards of COVID 19 as we will provide free wi-fi to all houses with learners from families who can’t afford wi-fi services and we will also provide paid for wi-fi to houses with learners of families who can afford as we will equip each child with a social media device to use online during lockdowns…
We have many plans for our farmers also, get a copy of my manifesto and read more about all plans we have.
- Your final remarks to the residents of Katima Mulilo and the nation at large?
In conclusion, I would love to urge all residents of the Katima Mulilo Urban Constituency to put their trust in me and come in numbers to vote for me to be the Councillor of the Katima Mulilo Urban Constituency for I am the only candidate with a clear vision and clear plan which will bring development to our town and our Constituency.
I have no bad records, I am clean and I serve God therefore I am reliable for you and you will find no corruption in me.
Let’s all go vote on November the 25th and vote for Daniel Matengu for development, employment creation and prosperity for all our people regardless of tribe, religion, race, political affiliation etc.
I thank you.
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