John Muyamba
NKURENKURU – President Hage Geingob believes that we should have serious conversations, as Namibians, with the aim of finding peaceful and sustainable solutions to the challenges of inequality, landlessness and outstanding pains of genocide, he also promised that the land conference will be held in October this year were issues of ancestral land claims will also be discussed for solutions.
“As Namibia tries to deal with the remaining challenges, we should approach the issues of poverty, landlessness and genocide with clear minds and with urgency,” he said during the Heroes’ Day commemoration held in Nkurenkuru on Sunday.
Geingob also said that for as long as we have Namibians who are poor, who have no access to the means of production, who have not received satisfactory compensation for past atrocities committed against them, we will not be able to pay a fitting tribute to those who perished in defence of Namibia and its people.
“As we try to find solutions to what I have mentioned, we should not succumb to cynicism and behave as if government is not doing anything. We are doing our best and if we hold hands, we shall achieve our objectives. We should not succumb to those who seek to divide us at every turn and opportunity. They will fail,” he added.
Geingob reminded the nation that during his first State of the Nation Address in 2015, he announced that a second Land Conference would be organised, he said it was done with the intention of creating a platform at which the willing-seller, willing-buyer principle, ancestral land claims for restitution, expropriation in public interest with just compensation, urban land reform and resettlement criteria, as well as the Veterinary Cordon Fence can be thoroughly interrogated and discussed.
The President announced that the Land Conference will take place from 1-5 October this year and It will happen in a transparent and inclusive manner.
“Government is opening up these difficult policy conversations because no one should be under the illusion that our fight for freedom is complete. We remain cognizant of the fact that we are now engaged in the second phase of the struggle; the fight for economic freedom and justice. The struggle for a better country shall continue until it is won,” he said.
Geingob further said that government will pursue all possible means to deal with income disparities, high unemployment and the existence of pockets of extreme poverty. “We can only truly honour our heroes and heroines if we commit the wealth of the country they bled and died for in their children’s hands. For our liberty and freedom to become meaningful, we have to restore the dignity of the majority,” he said.
“Restoration can only come about through the correction of historical injustices. If we don’t correct the wrongs of the past through appropriate policies and actions, our peace will not be sustainable. I invite each and every one of you to be part of the journey. No one should feel left out,” he added.