Opposition addresses land debate

Namibia’s Landless People's Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi says his party will introduce a radical land reform programme if elected. The Namibian reports that Swartbooi said the current law prohibits the government from taking or expropriating land for the purposes of redistributing it to the landless, but the LPM government will amend the laws to address the inequalities created by the apartheid-era South African authorities. ‘We are a party that wants to get the land for our people, no matter what the law says. We go and change the laws. We want to get the basics right and get our people into agricultural production so that we can feed ourselves as a nation and export any surpluses that we produce here,’ he said. Under his ‘smaller, leaner and sharper government’, Swartbooi said the executives will be more accountable to parliament and to the people.