Staff Reporter
THE President of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), Bernardus Swartbooi, held no punches back in a press conference this week, as he expressed his party’s support for the war Israel is waging against Iran and also expressed discontent over the appointment of Namibian-born Minister of Health, Esperance Luvindao, whom he described as “a whole black Congolese.”
The LPM held the press conference in the capital on Tuesday, 24 June 2025, to express discontent against the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, who has ruffled a few feathers after exposing corruption in different town councils and introducing a board to hold oversight over local authorities.
“Look at this minister Luvindao. My God. A Congolese, and she has so much arrogance in Parliament. A Congolese. Which Namibian will be made minister in Congo? Who? A Congolese that is here trying to talk nonsense. Instead of addressing basic issues, now it’s about AI ambulances. So how does the AI ambulance work? They budget N$62 million for AI nonsense and N$11 million for medication. We want medication and beds, and proper doctors. These are the basics we want sorted out. But you bring in a Congolese. A whole black Congolese that just ra ra ra ra ra. Very unstable government of Netumbo,” Swartbooi said.
He further expressed the LPM’s support for Israel, adding that it was right to go on the offensive first against Iran.
“We support Israel. We are fully in solidarity with the people of Israel and the government of Israel for having made pre-emptive strikes against the evil Republic of Iran to whom we sell uranium. This country sells uranium to Iran. This country has been on record for more than 40 years that they want to wipe out Israel. It was good that Israel decided to act decisively against Iran. If we support, as we do, Israel, it does not mean every action of the Israeli government. The slaughter of innocent Palestinians must stop, there must be a ceasefire. Israel has battered that community for too long. We support Israel because Israel supported our genocide cause in the court in New York, because they understand what it means to be a survivor of genocide. They filed papers in the court in New York to express their support for the Ovaherero/Nama genocide. People want to call it a Namibian genocide, but there is no such thing — it is an Ovaherero/Nama genocide.”
Touching on the issue of Sankwasa, Swartbooi accused the Urban and Rural Development Minister of bullying local authorities headed by opposition parties, and further said that Sankwasa accused the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of being weak to silence the institution, as he also faces investigations against his company which got a government tender without competing against any other businesses.
Sankwasa has, however, hit back at Swartbooi, claiming that only President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is in charge and that he is currently sitting with the reports of the //Khara Region, which he says are in shambles.
Photo: LPM Facebook
