Namibia: We Will Fight Corruption - Swartbooi

Landless People's Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi has promised to fight corruption once in power after the November presidential and National Assembly elections.

He was speaking during the party's fifth anniversary celebration at Tsumeb on Saturday, saying the LPM cannot be compared to other parties.

"The LPM is a serious party with serious people who understand responsibility towards citizens, and it shall never be compared to corrupt parties," said Swartbooi.

The LPM is seeking to unseat Swapo during the upcoming elections in a 'David and Goliath' type fight.

Swartbooi said some political party leaders behave like lions because they are hungry for power, yet they do not care about the Namibian people.

"They just want to be president and forget the people who voted them into the positions. Let's not repeat the same mistake of voting for irresponsible parties. It's never too late to make the right choice and vote for the LPM," said Swartbooi.

Launching the party's manifesto, Swartbooi said the LPM will address the current education crisis.

Swartbooi said the shocking failure rate was met with deafening silence from pupils, parents and the appointing authorities of government leaders, causing the LPM to question whether Namibians are uninterested in striving for better or if they have simply accepted their lot.

"There has been a dereliction of duty. Not even 10 students organised themselves to picket at education authorities to decry the current education system and say: This system is not working for us. Parents have been quiet while their children are going into the streets.

"Some political parties call themselves wonderful names, but they don't have an interest in the people of this country. Some are funded by outside countries, for example the British, and they want to bring the British system in Namibia because they don't have their own ideas."

"We are saying as a political party, we are talking about it, researching it, articulating it, and if you put us in power by voting for us, we can do something about it because the money is with the government to bring changes that will improve the conditions of the people and destroy generational poverty. Because without education what can you do?"

He noted that the party will continue to provide land to the landless as they have done in the Hardap and //Kharas regions, where they have issued residential erven to locals to address the long-standing waiting lists of residents wanting to purchase land and build houses for themselves.

The party has four seats in parliament, occupied by party president Swartbooi, Utaara Mootu, Edison Isaacks and Henny Seibeb. It was founded in 2017 and registered on 4 February 2019.

As part of the party's fifth anniversary, the LPM will continue to hold rallies in various towns leading up to the elections.

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