KEETMANSHOOP - The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) has made history when it won seven out of eight seats in the Hardap regional council as well as winning control of most local authorities in the southern region.
The region was previously dominated by the ruling party Swapo that could only manage to retain the Rehoboth Urban East constituency in the just added regional council and local authority elections.
It ceded Aranos, Daweb, Gibeon, Mariental Rural, Mariental Urban, Rehoboth Rural and Rehoboth Urban West constituencies to LPM. LPM Hardap regional commissar, Willy Hochtrit said the party aims to restore the dignity of residents in the region.
“The recipe of our success story when accomplishing the landslide victory in the region was that of loyal party supporters crossing their vote for LPM and also prayer and fasting,’’ he explained.
Hochtrit said people in Hardap and Namibia, in general, want to see the change in developing regions for their betterment.
“We are very thankful for our youth who were campaigning on the ground as foot soldiers, contributing largely towards our victory,’’ he said.
The LPM leader also said there was no development in the region for the past years, hence the need for a new, fresh political infusion.
He further commended the party loyalists for funding the elections campaign from their pockets, except for a little financial assistance from LPM at the national level.
“We are very happy and excited about the results achieved during the just-ended elections and are now looking forward to new changes to be implemented for our region,’’ Hochtrit concluded.
Piet Van Wk, an elderly party supporter in Rehoboth could not express his happiness enough for the LPM victory in Hardap region.
“The day has finally come for a different political favour in our community, bringing in development and change for us,’’ Van Wyk said.
He is optimistic that LPM will bring about employment opportunities, skills development programmes for the youth as well as rooting out corruption at all government levels.
“One of the social evils, namely substance abuse should be addressed by our party through minimizing and controlling the mushrooming of shebeens, especially in the Rehoboth community,’’ said Van Wyk.
Swapo party Hardap regional coordinator, Elizabeth Kharigus on her part described the election process in the region as ‘procedurally fair and transparent’ whereby all voters were granted the opportunity to choose the leaders they want. ‘’Residents exercised their democratic rights, hence the outcome of the election results,’’ she explained.
Kharigus stressed that Swapo is still in charge of the central governance at the national level and will continue to spearhead progress and development in all parts of Namibia.
“It was the Swapo party of Namibia that instituted democracy in Namibia before our country’s independence whereby people are free to vote for leaders of their choice as was evident during this year’s elections,’’ she noted.
– sklukowski@nepc.com.na