Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) deputy president Longinus Iipumbu says Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi needs to be lectured on the importance of keeping quiet.
Iipumbu said this in a media statement he issued yesterday.
The statement was issued in response to Swartbooi’s utterances last Thursday, saying some political parties in Namibia are simply copying others’ ideas, such as the South African Democratic Alliance (DA).
“They even want to outperform the DA. Then others now have this project from South Africa.
These little NEFF, ZEFF and other economic freedom fighting institutions are springing up across the country, and when you look at what the EFF is, you say: Can they just sit down and grow up?” Swartbooi said at his party’s policy conference.
Iipumbu said Swartbooi’s remarks are “a very sad representation of the alternative politics [six] landscape in Namibia”.
“It is disheartening to witness a leader engage in a narrative that not only belittles, but also condescends to legitimate political entities that represent the will of the people,” he said.
Iipumbu said it is strange that the LPM has formed coalitions with other political parties at some local authorities.
“Clearly he is neither here nor there, and he needs to be lectured on the importance of keeping one’s mouth shut – especially when it runs like this with no guided intelligence and maturity,” he said.
The NEFF leader said opposition parties should not vie for attention by engaging in mudslinging. He said Swartbooi should be told to calm down and realise that opposition parties are facing one enemy only – Swapo.
Iipumbu said it would be impossible for the LPM to gain momentum in the northern part of Namibia without collaborating with other parties.
He said opposition parties should draw lessons from each other. “Swartbooi’s pursuit for attention in a space where none is warranted showcases desperation and a lack of maturity, and it is this lack of maturity that has seen him often kicked out of the National Assembly, at times violently,” Iipumbu said.
He said his party appreciates Swartbooi’s intelligence and the fact that he is “a refined man of law”, but this must show on the battlefield. “If he does not accord respect to other leaders chosen by the people in the same manner, then we are left with nothing to see in him but a childish narcissist . . .
“His remarks about other parties being copycats lack substance . . ,” he said.
The LPM told The Namibian yesterday that the party would respond to Iipumbu this morning on Desert Radio.
POLICY CONFERENCE
Swartbooi, during the opening of the LPM’s conference said the public sector has been the object of “systematic political co-optation” by the ruling elite. He said this is a consequence of the apartheid strategy. “Baptised and christened exactly on the sociological, political and administrative premises of the apartheid state, which we thought we 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 LPM said. Also speaking at the conference, LPM youth leader Duminga Ndala said the party would go to all corners of the country to ensure the elections are won with a “youth vote”.
“And we will spread the message that the orange revolution is ready to take over,” she said.
The party is set to have a press briefing on the outcomes of the conference this week.
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