Zorena Jantze
THE Leader of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), Bernadus Swartbooi, paid a courtesy visit to State House where he briefed President Hage Geingob on issues that the LPM deemed needs urgent attention.
In the meeting, Swartbooi stated that politics should be set aside for better service delivery.
This is the first time in six years that Swartbooi visited State House after his last meeting in 2016 which culminated in the politician resigning from his position as Deputy Minister of Lands and Resettlement.
Queried by journalists on the LPM’s past views of the SWAPO party and the unsavoury manner in which he parted ways with central government and SWAPO, Swartbooi said that politics should be set aside.
“But who is the current president? There is no change of mind but we will sit with anyone who wishes to develop the country. That does not mean our initial thoughts, impressions and what we know of them has changed. Those thoughts are there, us coming here is a demonstration that after the politics is done, we’ve got to govern,” he said.
“In governance, you have to be clear, pragmatic and solid on what is important for the people. It doesn’t help to say someone is corrupt and not work with them. You have to work with them” Swartbooi said.
The leader of the LPM stated that the discussion held with President Geingob was fruitful, adding that the party delivered a 20-page document that touches on governance and economic issues.
“Our discussion was fruitful. We touched on genocide, land, the Hydrogen Project and closing ranks and setting politics aside and doing things together in terms of bringing services and welfare to all our citizens,” Swartbooi said.
He added that a key issue that arose in the meeting included the Neckartal Dam which has recently been filled to the brim by good rains but has no agricultural projects as of yet.
Swartbooi further added there is a need for different irrigation systems to be looked at which will entail the Hardap region gaining an extra 1 000 hectares of land but that this is still to be discussed in detail with the president.
“We highlighted the question of the starvation of many Namibians, particularly the San community. We will take up this discussion with the Vice-president’s office. The San community suffers from lack of land and when they do have land, they usually face water shortages,” Swartbooi said.
He added that the southern region has N$250 million debt to NamPower alone and that this should be written off as there are structural problems that created it.
On genocide, the LPM requested a genocide conference for affected communities, stating significant gaps remain between where government stands on the matter and where the LPM is.
“We want a conference which is firm on who the affected communities are, not generalizations and people that want to squeeze themselves in because they have political numbers,” Swartbooi added.
He said the LPM has given its support to the Hydrogen Project as a party that leads the Oranjemund town council together with the IPC.
Swartbooi further noted that a project of such nature should not be gobbled up in political party wrangling and that there is a need for those who are leading this project to meet up with the regional council so local communities share the benefits of the project. He shared similar sentiments on the possible Shell oil gas discovery.
