Matheus Hamutenya
Karasburg-The former deputy minister of land reform, Bernadus Swartbooi, has threatened to take the livestock of landless people to President Hage Geingob’s farm if the government does not accede to their demands for resettlement farms.
Addressing the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) meeting at Karasburg on Saturday, Swartbooi made reference to several farmers who were summoned to appear in court for occupying government land illegally, but saying they should take their animals to Geingob’s farm if they are evicted.
Swartbooi said farmers have taken the farms as they do not have land and it is painful that the government wants to evict them without giving them an alternative.
He impressed on the government to hear the cries of its people and solve their problems, and that it should therefore provide landless people with land, which he said belongs to the people being threatened with eviction.
The former //Kharas governor urged farmers to stay on the farms and only move away if the government can give them land where they can go with their animals.
“If the court decides that these men must go out of that farm, then let us put those cents together, and those with trucks get them ready and we will load those animals and take them to Geingob’s farm,” he said.
He also lashed out at the resettlement programme, saying it is corrupt and does not seek to give land back to those that lost land during colonial times.
Swartbooi also took a swipe at Swapo for “not doing enough for the people of the south”, indicating that if things are not corrected he will not vote or campaign for a party that does not have people’s interests at heart.
“Come 2019, if things do not change, I will not vote where I used to vote – we are not a political party but a political region and if this government does not give back our land then it must go,” he cautioned.
He also spoke out against alleged corruption in government, saying he is aware of top leaders involved in corrupt activities, adding that he is glad he was fired as he does not want a position in a bankrupt government, where some leaders have “stolen” money.
He said corruption is rife and will continue unabated because people who are supposed to report corruption are the ones who are corrupt and milking the country dry, according to him.
“If N$200 million is lost and you say let us close it down and move on, then you ask yourself how much it really is, and I know of top leaders who have their hands all over that bank, but I will not mention names, they have stolen all the money and it is not even in their banks, they keep it in their houses,” he said.