It was on 27 July 2017 that firebrand Bernadus Swartbooi quit the ruling Swapo Party to focus on the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), which was not a political formation at the time.

Some called him a ‘loose cannon’, others branded him ‘angry and bitter’ and ‘undisciplined’, while another group believed he was principled.

Swartbooi is a paradox.

Fast forward five years later, and Swartbooi and his orange army have not looked back and continue to grow from strength to strength, both as a political party and a household name.

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

At its maiden polls in 2019, the new kid on the block garnered 38 956 votes, which translated into four National Assembly seats.

In 2020, during the regional council and local authority elections, LPM would again cement itself as a force to be reckoned with on the local political scene.

The elections culminated in LPM governing Namibia’s two southern regions – ||Kharas and Hardap – with an outright majority.

It currently has 50 local authority councillors and 12 regional councillors. Only the ruling Swapo Party has more presence than LPM in this regard.

In the National Assembly, it is the third biggest political party with four seats, behind the official opposition, the Popular Democratic Movement with 16 seats and Swapo’s 63.

MULTIFACETED

For its unorthodox approach and Swartbooi’s sharp tongue, LPM has equally earned fans and critics.

On one hand, LPM is credited with having breathed life into the National Assembly, which was often characterised by boredom and lack of depth in debates.

Some quarters accuse its leaders of being disrespectful, degrading women and being insensitive.

Meanwhile, another section of the population believes that the status quo, a deeply rooted culture of corruption and Swapo’s political dominance, cannot be confronted with a smiling face.

All these features characterise the movement.

ON COURSE

Swartbooi believes his party is on the right trajectory.

“The growth is phenomenal, not just in numbers, but in the understanding of what this party stands for. Many people now understand from a clear ideological analysis what it is that Swapo has aborted,” he said in an interview with Nampa.

“We have not receded in the way we do our politics. We are robust, strong, open to engaging and always on the road.”

SYSTEMS & PROCESSES

Swartbooi has learned one thing from Swapo which is central to the survival of any organisation.

“I have learned [to build] structures. If you are a political party that wants to win and take over a country, you must have structures in place,” he said.

He then pointed out that LPM has a strong footprint in Kunene north, Oshikoto north, Oshana and Ohangwena.

The former ||Kharas governor was quick to note that more work lies ahead for the party.

“As a party, we are already in campaign mode for 2024. That’s how we have functioned for the past four years from a movement to a political party, to a governing party with a parliamentary wing. We want to take over the country,” he said.

ABORTED

One thing is clear for Swartbooi: to take over the government, LPM cannot rest on its laurels.

Swartbooi said his former political home has “aborted the aspirations of this country. They have aborted the future of the future.”

“That gives us very little time to play around and pushes us to work hard, travelling around, even at times leaving Parliament in order to strengthen ourselves on the ground, but also to account to the people that have elected us so that we are here.”

ANALYSIS

Zeroing in on the journey, Nampa spoke to some local analysts to solicit their views.

Political commentator Ndumba Kamwanyah said LPM’s community political activities, consultations on land genocide and offering of training on local governance will yield positive results.

“Certainly, we can say it is a force to reckon with.”

He was, however, quick to note that the party’s real litmus test will be the 2024/2025 elections.

“But from the last [election] results to the next, we are not able to tell concretely the extent to which they are growing, especially in other regions [except for the south],” he said.

More so, Kamwanyah said, LPM’s dynamic leaders stand out “in terms of articulating and analysing issues.”

Political journalist Tileni Mongudhi shares Kamwanyah’s sentiments, saying the political party carved out a niche for itself.

“They used the land question and genocide as a springboard to capture their constituency. Now they have to build from that to capture the wider population,” Mongudhi said.

He added that LPM did fairly well to shrug off the tribal tag.

“They have a clear programme, more socialistic in nature, I would say centre-left. They believe the government must resolve issues confronting our people but they also don’t want to turn people into beggars,” he noted.

On the party leaders’ conduct in the National Assembly, Mongudhi had this to say: “Those antics in Parliament are just part of the political strategy.”

Source: The Namibian Press Agency