LPM to hold own land conference

APPROXIMATELY 300 people attended the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) meeting at Mariental on Sunday.

Speaking in the absence of former parliamentarian-turned-land activist Bernadus Swartbooi, who could not attend due to personal reasons, LPM working group committee member Meliza Minnaar said people should “unite in the name of ancestral land”.

“Every time, we are turned away when we apply for land or urban land, only to see high-profile people being given land for next to nothing. Instead, we are forced to grab land and sit on it without sanitation and basic services,” she stated.

She said she thought resettlement was for the poor, but instead people from other regions were resettled in the south, while those from the south who suffered at the hands of colonial forces were left out in the cold.

Minnaar said it is time people vote for “the right people”, and stop voting for Swapo.

“I, Meliza Minnaar, in my personal capacity, today say the Nama and Damara people should stop voting for Swapo. A lot of promises were made and still, after 27 years, we are living in poverty,” she fumed.

Henny Seibeb, an activist and member of the working group of the LPM, told the same audience that they wanted to ensure restorative justice for landless Namibians by reclaiming ancestral land, and correcting historical injustices.

“Our objective is to advocate fair and just land reform,” Seibeb stressed.

He said after 27 years of independence, promises of fair land distribution and serviced urban land had not been fulfilled.

The LPM will hold its own Landless People’s Conference in September, to compile its own manifesto, which they intend to hand over to the United Nations to prove that the Nama, Ovaherero and Damara people lost ancestral land.

The LPM conference is scheduled for 7 and 8 September.

– Nampa