TWO opposition parties yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to start the expected process of merging the smaller Republican Party with that of the bigger Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), with immediate effect.

The status of RP president Henk Mudge remains vague, but the merger, which RDP vice president, Steve Bezuidenhout, called a "unification and a unified political formation", would be a long drawn-out process, with RP leaders to be gradually incorporated into the RDP executive and central committees, "as vacancies occur." The RP, started over thirty years ago by Dirk Mudge, Henk's father, will eventually disappear. "If I have to give up my seat as Member of Parliament for this process, I will do so," Mudge declared. The two parties will run a joint secretarial office at Parliament and they will share the costs.

The RDP's Bezuidenhout said the unification process will be overseen by a joint steering committee, led by the two party presidents and facilitated by an interim integration committee.

"Once the process is completed all assets and liabilities of the RP shall become assets and liabilities of the RDP and pay the RP's unpaid bills," he noted. When the process is finally completed, the RP will notify the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), that RP will be dissolved.

Over the next three months the sister parties want to jointly campaign for the upcoming municipal and regional elections "to get a mandate for a new direction and a prosperous society," according to RDP president Hidipo Hamutenya.

Mudge said talks on the merger between RP and RDP started three years ago.

Addressing Hamutenya as "my comrade and my friend" he said the political marriage would bring an end to the Swapo government. "I, as a true believer and with the authority bestowed upon us, declare here today, in the name of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, that today will mark the beginning of the end of the Swapo Party government," Mudge said at a local hotel, where the event took place. He said he could tell all Namibians, still living in poverty after twenty years of Independence, those who had failed to get Government jobs because they have "the wrong surname", Namibians who had to compete against Chinese retailers and those who could not share Namibia's natural resources because the "Swapo government issued mining and fishing concessions to their close friends and families," Swapo will eventually be defeated.

The signing event was in the same conference room where Hamutenya announced his resignation from Swapo, exactly three years ago. Three months later he started the RDP.

"I cannot think of a better person and party to have as an ally to defeat Swapo," Mudge added. "We share the same vision about what can be done to truly reconcile the Namibian people and to improve the standard of living, especially at grass root level."

Yesterday was only the start of a unification process of the "non-ruling parties" in Namibia, the RP president said. "After having held several discussions with all the other [opposition] parties, we realised that most of them still have some work to do in order to prepare their parties to join us and we respect that." The doors of the RP-RDP would be wide open to welcome other political parties who are ready to join.

According to Hamutenya, the new alliance with the RP, was a "political machine to drive political unity in Namibia" as the economy was in a state of stagnation and corruption was mounting "by those who do self enrichment."

"Swapo members are hopeless victims of autocracy. Swapo did nothing to make the policy of national reconciliation work. Some 400 000 Namibians live in poverty and don't have enough food on the table," Hamutenya added. The RP and RDP wants to review many Government policy documents not implemented, to make them work. "There are many policy documents in the Swapo offices, but they do not have time to do something about them, as there is fighting within Swapo, they are at each other's throats, so their energy is used for that - a sign of things to come. They fight every day and forget about all the policies to be put in place."

Hamutenya called on commercial farmers to apply their expertise and help produce more food as the "Boere" (Afrikaans for 'farmers') were needed in the country.