Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader, Bernadus Swartbooi, has condemned party members who get involved in corrupt dealings.
Swartbooi, who was speaking at the party’s fifth Political Action Committee (PAC) meeting in Swakopmund on Saturday, said that the party will remove anyone found guilty of such acts.
“We should never tolerate wrongdoing for the fear of losing party members. We cannot allow corruption and let our party leaders to get away with these things because we are afraid of what people will say,” he emphasised.
Swartbooi made reference to a recent incident in which the party had to recall one of its leaders after allegedly getting involved in corruption.
“This leader gave her personal bank account and received a direct financial deposit which was supposed to help the community from one of the towns in the south of the country. After letting this person go, people said we just wanted to fire, but this is not the case. Doing what is right seems so wrong because so much wrong has been tolerated that it has become acceptable and normalised,” he said.
The meeting, which was attended by the party’s national leadership from all structures within the party, was a platform for members to deliberate on governance issues, among others.
In an interview with Nampa on the side-lines of the meeting, the party’s spokesperson, Eneas Emvula, added that the meeting was also intended for the party to galvanise the approach towards the implementation and realisation of its manifesto.
“We are faced with many challenges when it comes to governance. Some of the laws are not aligned with the realities on the ground and the economic development through the local government is not taking place at a very satisfactory level and have shown a need for improvement.
He added that the party wants to have a consensus on the direction the party needs to go in and the informed approaches that it implements on the ground, among others.
The platform was also used to swear in 13 new party members.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
