Von Wietersheim, who was minister of agriculture until 1993, made this statement at an RDP rally held at Swakopmund in the Erongo region on Thursday.
He said: “The ugly cancer of corruption started rearing its head soon after independence, and it was growing unabatedly under the leadership of former President Sam Nujoma. When it crept up in my ministry, I took steps against the culprit and that resulted in a fallout with Nujoma, which in turn resulted in my sacking as minister towards the end of 1993,” he said.
Contacted for a response to this allegation, Nujoma's senior special assistant John Nauta on Monday said von Wietersheim was not sacked but resigned after some suggestions he made were rejected by Cabinet.
“It is the joke of the day. He cannot say he was sacked by Nujoma. If there was any sacking, then it would have been a Cabinet decision,” Nauta replied.
When he addressed the meeting in Swakopmund, the MP also charged that the Swapo government is falsely continuing to portray Namibia as a stable and peaceful country with a progressive constitutional democratic culture. “In reality, Namibia remains one of the countries with the highest income disparities in the world, together with some of the highest standards-of-living differences between its new political and business elite and the masses of citizens living in abject poverty,” he said.
Von Wietersheim stated that the deterioration of Namibia's inappropriate education system, combined with minimal skills in vocational training, as well as the steady collapse of the health system are but the most obvious symptoms of a failing and corrupt administration. “The situation is developing into a highly volatile social time bomb, which has the potential to blow up if changes at the ballot box remain unattainable,” he said.
Von Wietersheim organised the public meeting to offer a platform for questions and discussions around the upcoming elections and to explain to the voters what his party has to offer.
About 30 RDP supporters, mostly elderly residents from Swakopmund's white community, attended the meeting. The 2014 RDP election manifesto, which was read out at the meeting, promises to replace the current “failing education system” in Namibia with one that will create the required knowledge and skills.
On land provision, the RDP promises to drastically reduce the prices of land by providing serviced plots in all urban areas.
The party also pledges to create employment and introduce broad-based economic transformation policies to target labour intensive production sectors such as agriculture, the textile industry, tourism and manufacturing. - Nampa