LPM calls on UN to probe Swapo govt
The Landless People's Movement (LPM) is petitioning the United Nations to investigate what they term the reinforcement of the colonial regime legacy after 27 years in Namibia.
LPM leaders Bernadus Swartbooi and Henny Seibeb last week briefed the media on the purpose of the petition which will be delivered to the UN country representative to Namibia Kiki Gbeho soon.
The letter that is addressed to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, states that while 21 March 1990 marks an epic victory by oppressed Namibians against colonialism and apartheid, apartheid persists.
The letter highlights the issue of the 1904-08 Nama and OvaHerero genocide, stating that descendants of this genocide remain landless and destitute in a country of their birth.
“Many languish in urban slums in the excessive squalor of poverty, as these urban areas were once their indigenous lands. Others are internally displaced in parts of the country, with no single effort made since independence to return them to their original land. In contrast, South Africa began repatriate certain communities that were internally displaced due to apartheid policies,” the letter states.
Instead, the letter states, the Swapo government has perpetuated this state of affairs by primarily allocating land to those it considers its own, ignoring the “dire historic reality” of land dispossession.
“In the administration of the affairs of the state, ethic employment in the public service, the police services and defence services is the unwritten but well-known policy. Opportunities in education, economic empowerment and any programme aimed toward human social and economic development is preserved and afforded on ethic lineage while the rest of the country are forced into helplessness and despair,” the letter read. The letter further seeks to draw the attention of the UN to the land struggles of local communities emphasising that they have lost trust and confidence in the willingness of the Swapo government to address their historic legitimate plight.
“Sadly, the government in power since the advent of independence has trumped and trampled upon thousands of Namibians, through policies of oppression, falsification of history, ethnic privileging and deliberately engineered political domination,” the letter states.
JEMIMA BEUKES
LPM leaders Bernadus Swartbooi and Henny Seibeb last week briefed the media on the purpose of the petition which will be delivered to the UN country representative to Namibia Kiki Gbeho soon.
The letter that is addressed to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, states that while 21 March 1990 marks an epic victory by oppressed Namibians against colonialism and apartheid, apartheid persists.
The letter highlights the issue of the 1904-08 Nama and OvaHerero genocide, stating that descendants of this genocide remain landless and destitute in a country of their birth.
“Many languish in urban slums in the excessive squalor of poverty, as these urban areas were once their indigenous lands. Others are internally displaced in parts of the country, with no single effort made since independence to return them to their original land. In contrast, South Africa began repatriate certain communities that were internally displaced due to apartheid policies,” the letter states.
Instead, the letter states, the Swapo government has perpetuated this state of affairs by primarily allocating land to those it considers its own, ignoring the “dire historic reality” of land dispossession.
“In the administration of the affairs of the state, ethic employment in the public service, the police services and defence services is the unwritten but well-known policy. Opportunities in education, economic empowerment and any programme aimed toward human social and economic development is preserved and afforded on ethic lineage while the rest of the country are forced into helplessness and despair,” the letter read. The letter further seeks to draw the attention of the UN to the land struggles of local communities emphasising that they have lost trust and confidence in the willingness of the Swapo government to address their historic legitimate plight.
“Sadly, the government in power since the advent of independence has trumped and trampled upon thousands of Namibians, through policies of oppression, falsification of history, ethnic privileging and deliberately engineered political domination,” the letter states.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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