Martin Lukato: Endurance of a journeyman

December is the most wonderful time of the year for most people, but for political journeyman Martin Lukato, this month signifies his personal fiefdom.It was during December 1960 that he crawled into this world as a bouncing baby in Anda village in present-day Linyanti constituency in the Zambezi Region.Then, in December 2002, he quit his job as a police officer.December 2024 marked the end of Lukato’s 20-year wait for a seat in parliament after his National Democratic Party (NDP) secured its first-ever seat in the National Assembly. He will occupy it himself, as of March 2025.Lukato’s journey has been punctuated by misfortune and endurance. NDP, which he founded in 2003, is his first love. Or perhaps his second after Edith, his wife of 35 years.Not a picnicSpeaking to this journalist in 2014, Lukato defended his prolonged stay at the helm of the party, which he had led for 11 years at that time. His testimony at the time was chilling.“To tell you the honest truth, the party is funded from my own pocket. The members of the party are not contributing anything. I have sustained this party for 11 years with my own cents. The party wouldn’t exist if I wasn’t there,” he told Namibian Sun at the time.“I survive through the small-scale farming that I do. I cultivate every year. I feed my family from cultivating and from the surplus, I help sustain my party,” the father of 12 said.By his own admission, Lukato sometimes hikes by truck from Katima Mulilo to attend political meetings in Windhoek in order to save money for party activities. That’s some 1 226 km of noisy, lethargic travel – and smelly, if the truck is carrying livestock. For Lukato, politics has been far from a Sunday picnic. Finances aside, Lukato’s journey has also been marked by unkind perceptions. With a lukewarm command of the Queen’s language, communicating his ideas has not always been a walk in Zoo Park.Add to this the fact that he served in apartheid South Africa’s police force in Namibia, which he joined at the age of 19 in 1979, and you have a man battling for credibility in certain quarters.Shaking off the ‘collaborator’ label has remained an uphill struggle. He was absorbed into the newly formed Namibian Police at independence, where he served for another 12 years before hanging up his cuffs.From farmer to parliamentarian His party headquarters is a thatched hut located in the thick forests of Queensland village in Linyanti, where he is the headman.This is in sharp contrast to the ruling party Swapo’s headquarters in Windhoek, whose cost is said to have already surpassed the N$1 billion mark. If these were biblical times, Lukato would be David... up against Goliath – the Philistine giant whose height was six cubits and a span, according to the book of Samuel.But Lukato is revered at home. In addition to being headman of Queensland village, he is also a member of the sub-kuta, which governs the Makanga area of the Zambezi Region. He is, therefore, no greenhorn in leadership and might just bring something different to the August House.The recent uptick in his party&#039;s political fortunes will also entail improved financial circumstances for both the party, which will be raking in N$1.1 million annually for its parliamentary work, and for himself, with a monthly salary of N$51 000.“Currently I am a communal farmer, eking out a living from gardening, poultry and making bricks,” he said yesterday about his current living conditions.He added: “My struggle journey was long and tough. It’s been 20 long years, but I thank God for His blessings and the Namibian people for voting for NDP. They have honoured me. We wanted 20 seats, but I accept the outcome.”NDP’s prophetic slogan, Seli Nako, has come to pass. It means ‘the hour has come’ – and it has indeed, for Lukato. Those who thought the NDP symbol of holding up two hands, as if to signal a surrender, did so at their own peril.

Martin Lukato: Endurance of a journeyman

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-29

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Martin Lukato: Endurance of a journeyman

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-29

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