PDM repays politicians with taxpayers’ monies
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) is using taxpayers’ funds to repay monies it reportedly borrowed from its politicians to finance its political activities between 2013 and 2019.
The party is also using taxpayer funds to reward its politicians for party work, Nampa has learnt.
This may be a direct contravention of the Electoral Act of 2014 which directs how funding received from the State purse may be used. It says funds allocated to a political party may not be used directly or indirectly for the purposes of paying any remuneration, fee, reward, perquisite or other benefits to any person representing
the political party in parliament, any regional council or local authority council. Among those being reimbursed is PDM leader, McHenry Venaani. PDM is adamant that everything is above board.
According to its treasurer general Nico Smit, they inherited a broke party when they were elected at their intraparty congress in 2013.
This meant they had to finance the then DTA [now PDM]’s political activities out of their own pockets, with the view that the party would refund them when its financial position improved.
He added: “We had a property in Khomasdal which the management decided to renovate and sell in order to raise money for the campaign in 2014. The DTA had no money to renovate the property.”
According to Smit, Venaani agreed to finance the property’s N$470 000 renovation, which PDM would repay at an 8% interest rate over five years. The property was then sold and the proceeds used to finance PDM’s 2014 campaign.
In 2015, when PDM garnered five seats in the National Assembly, its financial position improved and it was able to refund its other politicians who lent money to the party with the exception of Venaani.
“This was only possible after the national elections [at] the end of 2019 where PDM managed to get 16 members in parliament. This improved the funding of PDM drastically,” Smit said.
He expanded that PDM is not in a position to repay Venaani’s loan in a single payment. As such, the loan is being repaid in monthly instalments.
Asked if PDM is contravening the country’s electoral law governing the use of party funding, Electoral Commission of Namibia boss Theo Mujoro said the Act is “partly vague”.
“The Act is very clear on the specific instances for which the money may not be used, but is not clear on whether the repayment of loans falls within the category of the prohibited usage,” Mujoro said.
The revelations come at a time when allegations are rife in PDM circles that Venaani is being paid or is demanding a salary from PDM that is equivalent to what he earns as a member of parliament (MP).
“I want to state in no uncertain terms that Mr Venaani is not receiving a salary from PDM as its president, neither does any other leader of the PDM,” Smit stressed. However, Smit’s version was contradicted by PDM secretary general Manuel Ngaringombe.
Ngaringombe in a separate interview said Venaani is entitled to a number of allowances as party leader. “They helped the party when it was in a very difficult situation,” Ngaringombe said. He said Venaani travels the length and breadth of the country with his cars and his resources, with the party being obliged to at least say, ‘thank you’. Venaani echoed Smit’s sentiments. The 43-yearold said they resuscitated the party from the ashes to what it is today. “We funded a number of campaigns with resources that we loaned the party. We developed business financed by personal resources to aid the movement in difficult periods,” Venaani said. Consequently, PDM devised a strategy to repay those who loaned resources to their formation.
“There is nothing amiss when we refund those who gave input.” He added: “I didn’t receive kilometre fees or wear and tear for seven years or never was entitled to even a cellphone allowance. Imagine running four national campaigns on your own transport plus three weekends a month on party missions. My debt over seven years was difficult to pay back and we had to work out a monthly repayment amount.”
For the purpose of this article, Nampa interviewed several political leaders to find out if they pay their political office bearers. “I am the only person that is paid by the party in the top four. Our president does not get a single cent from Swapo. Our vice president and my deputy don’t get a single cent,” Swapo’s SG, Sophia Shaningwa confirmed.
She is also entitled to a Swapo-funded vehicle.
The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) is another party that does not reward its MPs monetarily. “We don’t get paid by LPM. In fact, we use our own resources to finance party activities as the budget is not enough. Even some of our members used their own pension for party activities,” LPM’s Henny Seibeb said. He said their contribution towards LPM’s growth was “selfless”. Between 2015 and 2020, taxpayers coughed up N$679.5 million on political parties.
For the current financial year, 2020/21, N$102.8 million has been allocated to political parties. For each seat, a political party gets N$745 000, meaning PDM will receive around N$11.9 million. -Nampa