LPM: No vote without landSays corruption is unstoppable The movement says political parties should answer how they have supported communities in their needs. Days after his departure from the Swapo Party, ousted member of parliament Bernadus Swartbooi told residents at Grootfontein's Blikkiesdorp and Leonardsheuwel not to vote for any political party come 2019 unless they can prove that they have delivered on their land reform promises.
“People must look carefully where they vote. It is those people who do not have land that decide who gets into government,” said Swartbooi, who unrelentingly continues his crusade for, among others, ancestral land rights under the banner of the Landless People's Movement (LPM).
“We will ask political parties 'where were you?' and if you did not support us in our needs, we will not allow you to sell us out again on false hope,” he said.
A sizable crowd of a couple of hundred - including a large number of young children, which is usual fare at such gatherings - attended the public meeting on Saturday on a cleared open space at Blikkiesdorp with a small contingent of police officers watching the proceedings from the side line.
The LPM organised the gathering to amplify its demand for equitable redistribution of urban and farmland.
The group reiterated that it is not a political party but will remain a movement advancing community interests.
At one point during the gathering an LPM activist proposed burning a Swapo scarf, but he was quickly reprimanded that community matters should not be confused with party political squabbles.
Traditional chief of Khorixas, Petrus Ukongo, introduced as an LPM activist, at the gathering said the fight for independence was for urban and rural land, as well as decent housing.
Instead, he said, over the last 27 years land has been apportioned to the politically well-connected and “strangers, foreigners” while local communities are being pushed to the margins.
Addressing the crowd, Swartbooi said the black government of Namibia should be “ashamed” for not having lived up to its election promises.
“Basic promises such as decent housing and access to land have not been delivered on. It is a shame and disappointment,” said Swartbooi.
He said while the German and apartheid regimes have delivered “milk and honey” for the Germans and Afrikaners, the Swapo government is only taking care of its own kith and kin.
“What went wrong in the minds, hearts and souls of those black we have voted for? Black people today are in a worse situation than during the period of apartheid,” he charged.
What “happened”, Swartbooi offered, is that “1991 was the point where those who lost land were sold out”.
“People, however, had hope because for the first time in 100 years we were led by our own people. We trusted them and were prepared to give them time, but nothing has happened in 27 years, and nothing will ever happen with this government,” he charged.
He accused the ruling party of having embarked on a self-enriching feeding frenzy from 1995, emboldened by major electoral victories since then.
“They started to eat from the future of our children and the growth in corruption became unstoppable,” Swartbooi charged. “The ACC [Anti-Corruption Commission] did not help because the establishment of the ACC was meant to catch small fish and not stop or to keep account of those that cause this country from going
bankrupt.”
He denounced claims that a demand for ancestral land is a tribal tirade against the Aawambo, saying land in the northern part of the country should be developed under an agrarian land reform programme so that “they” do not steal land from those who have not yet gotten back their land “dispossessed” during the colonial and apartheid eras.
“Is it tribal to demand a return of your land? Is it tribal to demand decent housing? What about the fact that there are people who have never lost any land? Give the land back to those who have lost their land,” he said.
Catherine Sasman
“People must look carefully where they vote. It is those people who do not have land that decide who gets into government,” said Swartbooi, who unrelentingly continues his crusade for, among others, ancestral land rights under the banner of the Landless People's Movement (LPM).
“We will ask political parties 'where were you?' and if you did not support us in our needs, we will not allow you to sell us out again on false hope,” he said.
A sizable crowd of a couple of hundred - including a large number of young children, which is usual fare at such gatherings - attended the public meeting on Saturday on a cleared open space at Blikkiesdorp with a small contingent of police officers watching the proceedings from the side line.
The LPM organised the gathering to amplify its demand for equitable redistribution of urban and farmland.
The group reiterated that it is not a political party but will remain a movement advancing community interests.
At one point during the gathering an LPM activist proposed burning a Swapo scarf, but he was quickly reprimanded that community matters should not be confused with party political squabbles.
Traditional chief of Khorixas, Petrus Ukongo, introduced as an LPM activist, at the gathering said the fight for independence was for urban and rural land, as well as decent housing.
Instead, he said, over the last 27 years land has been apportioned to the politically well-connected and “strangers, foreigners” while local communities are being pushed to the margins.
Addressing the crowd, Swartbooi said the black government of Namibia should be “ashamed” for not having lived up to its election promises.
“Basic promises such as decent housing and access to land have not been delivered on. It is a shame and disappointment,” said Swartbooi.
He said while the German and apartheid regimes have delivered “milk and honey” for the Germans and Afrikaners, the Swapo government is only taking care of its own kith and kin.
“What went wrong in the minds, hearts and souls of those black we have voted for? Black people today are in a worse situation than during the period of apartheid,” he charged.
What “happened”, Swartbooi offered, is that “1991 was the point where those who lost land were sold out”.
“People, however, had hope because for the first time in 100 years we were led by our own people. We trusted them and were prepared to give them time, but nothing has happened in 27 years, and nothing will ever happen with this government,” he charged.
He accused the ruling party of having embarked on a self-enriching feeding frenzy from 1995, emboldened by major electoral victories since then.
“They started to eat from the future of our children and the growth in corruption became unstoppable,” Swartbooi charged. “The ACC [Anti-Corruption Commission] did not help because the establishment of the ACC was meant to catch small fish and not stop or to keep account of those that cause this country from going
bankrupt.”
He denounced claims that a demand for ancestral land is a tribal tirade against the Aawambo, saying land in the northern part of the country should be developed under an agrarian land reform programme so that “they” do not steal land from those who have not yet gotten back their land “dispossessed” during the colonial and apartheid eras.
“Is it tribal to demand a return of your land? Is it tribal to demand decent housing? What about the fact that there are people who have never lost any land? Give the land back to those who have lost their land,” he said.
Catherine Sasman