John Muyamba
Edward Mumbuu
RUNDU – Landless People’s Movement leader Bernadus Swartbooi chose Rundu to launch the party’s manifesto to remind the Kavango community of their dominance at the ballot box.
He reminded Namibians that only a disciplined political formation like the LPM, with the right leadership and analytical understanding and respect for society, can deliver the dreams and hopes of Namibian people.
“A party with independent thinking, not captured by foreign forces and governments, is the only platform that can move our society forward,” Swartbooi said.
Among its proposed interventions if voted into power, the LPM will introduce a non-contributory social grant of N$3 000 per month, an orphans and vulnerable children’s grant of N$2 000 per month, and a basic income grant of N$1 500 per month for three years to 500 000 Namibians who are facing acute hunger.
On sports development and professionalisation, the party would allocate N$500 million annually, while investing N$200 million on arts and music annually.
“At the level of land: free urban plots in informal settlements to allow for property transfer to hundreds of thousands of Namibians, who have no property at all. This programme will be combined with housing construction led by the local authorities, which will reserve jobs for residents of their localities only,” he observed.
The LPM plans to establish an Office of the Land Protector, who will deal with communal, commercial, urban and mining land complaints, and will have authority to institute legal proceedings both criminally and in civil law, as well as at the land tribunal.
“On the education front, we will abolish every aspect of the system that keeps our children out of schools, or pushes them out of school; and we intend to push the university enrolment rate to 15%,” he stated.
Swartbooi said part of this percentage will be achieved through a tight-knit university partnership with outside institutions to absorb Namibian youth and students. “We will be aggressive with youth education, training, SMEs and agrarian reform policy work. We will invest N$8.9 billion annually (a comprehensive African agriculture initiative) in agricultural development to curb hunger and malnutrition, create jobs, create value chains of production and sale, and diversify the economy,’’ he continued.
Youth voice
On the same day, LPM youth wing leader Duminga Ndala unveiled the party’s youth empowerment plan.
In essence, it is a youth-centric manifesto of the LPM Youth Command Element, headed by Ndala.
It is a blueprint that aims to address the class and generational struggles of the permanent majority, who represent a solid 71% of Namibia’s population.
“Secondly, unemployment has engulfed Namibian society, and by extension the global south. Today, young people are confronted with the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. This is the result of a failure to permanently transform the material conditions of young people. Today, more than 500 000 Namibians are hungry; most of these are youth. Many university graduates holding various degrees are roaming the streets of Namibia without any prospects of a job or funding for them to start a business,” Ndala said.
She added: “This is the type of society that we have created, where young people have given up on their hopes and aspirations, where young people have been left to be muddled in poverty.”
The blueprint is hinged on eight pillars of governance, education, healthcare, mining, tourism, sports, the creative arts industry and agriculture.
On the governance front, the youth wing proposed that a Youth Quota Act be enacted in Parliament to ensure a meaningful and genuine representation of young people in public and private institutions.
“That this law ensures that 70% of jobs and opportunities in the public and private sectors are reserved for the youth, for inclusivity and empowerment,” Ndala urged.
She added: “Equally so that a Youth Empowerment Act is legislated to mandate public and private institutions to allocate 50% of tenders to youth SMEs in order to enhance economic opportunities for young entrepreneurs, foster innovation and ensure meaningful participation of the youth in the economy.”
In terms of basic and secondary education, the LPM youth proposed that a competence-based curriculum be implemented, focussing on children’s ability to demonstrate mastery in a specific set of skills, and to better understand the learners.
“That in terms of higher institutions, [we propose] that our VTCs are given the same recognition and priorities as universities, and that more funding be allocated to VTCs to fully equip them,” she added.
On healthcare, the LPM wants massive investments to be made in health infrastructure to ensure “that we have state-of-the art health facilities, and that all Namibians have access to healthcare in a conducive environment.”
The LPM youth furthermore want mental health programmes to be implemented in the school curriculum to address the growing mental health crisis among the youth.
On mining, Ndala had this to say: “That there is increased Namibian ownership in all mining operations; where Namibians own a minimum of 30%–50% shareholding, with a mandatory 10% allocated to youth and communities in mining regions.”
She added: “A National Youth Tourism Fund be established to provide financial support and mentorship to youth in tourism. Additionally, 40% of tourism concessions be allocated to young people to help them fully participate in this sector.”
Furthermore, the LPM wants the development of a specialised agricultural education curriculum, with a specific focus on cattle farming, to cater for the beef industry in Namibia.
“That 50% of green schemes are allocated to young people in Zambezi, Kavango East and Kavango West to help with the acceleration of food production in these regions and food security in Namibia. As we enter a new political dawn, we demand that young people are given the space and time to craft their political future. We demand that we be given an opportunity to drive the economic and social agenda of society,” said Ndala.
Voting power
It is Swartbooi’s view that in 1989 while Namibians in some parts of the country voted for other parties, the Kavango community voted for Swapo and put them into power. Swapo’s fate could thus turn around if they decide to vote differently.
He said if one looks back 34 years later, the people of the Kavango regions are poorer and hungrier, yet have remained loyal to Swapo in all consecutive elections since 1989.
“Our coming here was to remind the people that there was a time that you were the power-breaker, and you can still be the power-breaker. And we chose Rundu to indicate to our membership that we are growing here as a party, and this is the second-biggest growth point of the LPM in the whole country,’’ he boasted.
“We are proud of our young people in the Kavango regions; they are fearless. You can see from the last meeting we had, and the growth in this meeting that we are expanding like no other party. We, unlike other parties, simply do not bring people in buses from all over the country to pull up crowds,” he added.
“We do our party-political development on an organic, genuine and serious basis. So, if today we have 10 people in Rundu, that’s the number of members we have. If today we have 1 000 people in Rundu, that’s the number we have. So, it is necessary to remind the young and old ones that you are at some point the only community that carried Swapo through, and the numbers of the Kavango community for the past 35 years have grown so big that they still hold the key to dismantle Swapo, or keep them in power,’’ the former Swapo lawmaker said.
Swartbooi said Swapo must answer the developmental and social questions of Kavango for themselves after 35 years of independence – like have things improved for the people here, in housing, land, agriculture and education? Has it changed for the betterment of the Kavango regions?
“We are excited to be here. We are constantly coming to Rundu, and the fruits of our actions have begun to pay off. We just believe that the LPM is bound to get a significant share of the voting population here,” he enthused.
-emumbuu@nepc.com.na
Photos: John Muyamba