We're not anti-Aawambo - LPM

The Landless People's Movement (LPM) is based on solid principles and cannot be compared with the Congress of Democrats (CoD) and Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), which broke away from Swapo because of “greed and self-importance”.This is according to LPM youth leader Duminga Ndala, who said they are not fazed by Swapo supporters who label the LPM as a non-Aawambo party. “I reject those critics saying that the LPM is a Nama or Damara party only; we have a mixture of different races in our party. Personally I am Oshiwambo-speaking, which must count for something,” she said.“That line was just a propaganda tool used by Swapo. Look at the formation of Swapo by Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo; he called it the Ovamboland People's Organisation (OPO). He knew at that the time there were other people in Namibia, but he deliberately called it OPO; but today it is a so-called multi-cultural political organisation.” Ndala emphasised that although the party was born from the dismissal of Bernadus Swartbooi as deputy land reform minister by President Hage Geingob, as well as his subsequent resignation from Swapo and the quest for the restitution of ancestral land, it has now evolved into a dynamic party. Ndala added that with the LPM in charge it would not be business as usual.“We will have a congress around April or May next year where we will elect our official leaders to prepare for the elections, we now only form part of the interim leadership.”Ndala said the congress would be part of a five-day “festival of ideas” that would include the presentation of papers on a range of topics, such as agriculture. This research would ultimately inform the party's manifesto, which would be launched subsequently.Solutions The LPM promises to deliver land to people in its first 100 days in office and cut the civil service wage bill as humanely as possible, by imposing 55 as the age of retirement, should it win 2019 general elections and the local authority elections the following year.“The model is already there; it is just that the government is not using it. Let us say an LPM councillor becomes a mayor; what she does is she just declares and allocates title deeds. The land is already measured and you can service it afterwards. It just needs decisive leadership,” Ndala said. She added the LPM youth wing was working on a student command element that would fight for student rights and ultimately push for an overhaul of the secondary school curriculum, in order to replace Eurocentric content with African authors and history. “Right now we are drafting the constitution, so it will be launched next week. It will fight for student rights. We are also looking at decolonising the Namibian curriculum and replacing it with one that is in touch with African realities; one that speaks to us.” Ndala added that they had started registering students from different universities. “It will be an independent body, but under the auspices of the LPM.”'Voetsek Hage' Ndala emphasised that the LPM firmly believes in freedom of expression, when asked about the party's stance on Hennie Seibeb's radical utterances on social media, and him chanting “Voetsek Hage” at a recent protest.She admits, however, that in a conservative country like Namibia, radical slogans may be a concern. “We live in a society where people feel you must respect the president regardless of whether he is right or wrong. But the reality is that there are better things to concentrate on. Our government keeps raping us on a daily basis, through maladministration and corruption,” she said.Ndala believes a bigger concern for her is that Seibeb is persecuted for his word choice, but the levels of poverty and unemployed enjoy no priority. “Firstly, we need to make a distinction between Hennie and the movement. Hennie has his constitutional right; while there are some people who do not agree, our Namibian constitution provides for freedom of expression. Everybody has the right to say whatever they want to say,” she said. The LPM filed its application for registering as a political party with the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) in September. ECN chief electoral officer Theo Mujoro confirmed the application was being considered.JEMIMA BEUKES

We're not anti-Aawambo - LPM

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-22

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We're not anti-Aawambo - LPM

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-22

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