Namibia only for the favoured, Swartbooi says
Since independence, the Namibian government has been moulded into political machinery that only benefits the ruling elite and personal greed.
This according to Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi, who said the system has been used to ostracise and marginalise political opponents and the communities they represent.
He was speaking during the opening of the inaugural LPM policy conference, held in Windhoek.
According to him, the current political system is based on the exact principles of the apartheid state they thought they defeated in 1990.
“Our public sector policy and its consequent impact began to be positively experienced in ‘favoured’ communities, while these policy benefits became non-existent or limited in reactionary or misled and therefore ‘unfavoured’ communities.
“The only ‘sin’ the latter communities have committed was to exercise their democratic rights, choosing not to vote for the current ruling elite,” he said.
“The examples that amplify my assertions are clear: Certain people qualified to be war veterans, others not. Others for very large bursaries and scholarships, including for studies abroad, while others were claimed never to have applied for scholarships or bursaries at all,” Swartbooi said.
The LPM leader further said this alleged favouring is now also emulated in the oil and gas sectors, where exclusive scholarships were reportedly granted on ethnic and class bases, and not within a broader patriotic framework.
He added that the new land resettlement policy promulgated a few weeks ago suggests that land reform beneficiaries must be worth N$2 million to qualify for land.
“This policy is ahistoric and amoral, but as president Robert Mugabe stated after he was removed from power by his own colleagues, ‘there it was, there it is’.”
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This according to Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi, who said the system has been used to ostracise and marginalise political opponents and the communities they represent.
He was speaking during the opening of the inaugural LPM policy conference, held in Windhoek.
According to him, the current political system is based on the exact principles of the apartheid state they thought they defeated in 1990.
“Our public sector policy and its consequent impact began to be positively experienced in ‘favoured’ communities, while these policy benefits became non-existent or limited in reactionary or misled and therefore ‘unfavoured’ communities.
“The only ‘sin’ the latter communities have committed was to exercise their democratic rights, choosing not to vote for the current ruling elite,” he said.
“The examples that amplify my assertions are clear: Certain people qualified to be war veterans, others not. Others for very large bursaries and scholarships, including for studies abroad, while others were claimed never to have applied for scholarships or bursaries at all,” Swartbooi said.
The LPM leader further said this alleged favouring is now also emulated in the oil and gas sectors, where exclusive scholarships were reportedly granted on ethnic and class bases, and not within a broader patriotic framework.
He added that the new land resettlement policy promulgated a few weeks ago suggests that land reform beneficiaries must be worth N$2 million to qualify for land.
“This policy is ahistoric and amoral, but as president Robert Mugabe stated after he was removed from power by his own colleagues, ‘there it was, there it is’.”
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