EDITORIAL: Swapo and IPC manifestos disappoint on land
The election manifestos of both Swapo and the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) leave much to be desired as far as the thorny land issue is concerned.
Swapo says it will ‘continue’ on the trajectory it is currently on. This trajectory is punctuated by the lethargic implementation of only 25 of the 169 resolutions taken at the 2018 national land conference as of late 2023, amid other failures.
For 34 years of Swapo’s rule, land has remained firmly in the hands of white Namibians – joined lately by a small clique of new black elites. To the masses of our people, land remains as scarce as hens' teeth. That Swapo's big plan is to ‘continue’ what it has previously done is just sad.
Swapo says it also plans to acquire farmlands that border town areas to extend local authority boundaries within the ambit of applicable law. How do you address landlessness by moving people off their land?
Meanwhile, IPC says it will engage the German government to provide material funding and post-transfer support and training for the willing-seller, willing-buyer land redistribution programme and its beneficiaries. What if Germany says no?
How can Namibia’s most emotive socioeconomic issue be reliant on a foreign nation’s moods and decisions? We cannot promise economic emancipation when the most important means of production is concentrated in the hands of a few.
Land is the alpha and omega of human existence, but Swapo and IPC have both failed to show, with convincing tone and intent, how their approaches will radically differ to what has been done so far.
Swapo says it will ‘continue’ on the trajectory it is currently on. This trajectory is punctuated by the lethargic implementation of only 25 of the 169 resolutions taken at the 2018 national land conference as of late 2023, amid other failures.
For 34 years of Swapo’s rule, land has remained firmly in the hands of white Namibians – joined lately by a small clique of new black elites. To the masses of our people, land remains as scarce as hens' teeth. That Swapo's big plan is to ‘continue’ what it has previously done is just sad.
Swapo says it also plans to acquire farmlands that border town areas to extend local authority boundaries within the ambit of applicable law. How do you address landlessness by moving people off their land?
Meanwhile, IPC says it will engage the German government to provide material funding and post-transfer support and training for the willing-seller, willing-buyer land redistribution programme and its beneficiaries. What if Germany says no?
How can Namibia’s most emotive socioeconomic issue be reliant on a foreign nation’s moods and decisions? We cannot promise economic emancipation when the most important means of production is concentrated in the hands of a few.
Land is the alpha and omega of human existence, but Swapo and IPC have both failed to show, with convincing tone and intent, how their approaches will radically differ to what has been done so far.
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