LPM, Swapo cold war over Vyf Rand

By Jeremiah Ndjoze

Awar of words has ensued between the leadership of the Landless People’s Movement of Namibia (LPM) at Okahandja and the ruling Swapo party with assertions of sabotage and counter claims of incompetence flying thick, Confidente has learnt.

The LPM has it that Swapo is deliberately pushing an agenda aimed at sabotaging the work of the Okahandja Town Council – now that the ruling party is not in control of that municipality.

The town council is currently manned by the LPM, with Natasha Brinkman as mayor, following regional and local authority elections in November last year.

Brinkman told Confidente this week that the Municipality of Okahandja will demolish a half-built structure said to be owned by the son of a prominent Swapo member and national leader at the Vyf Rand informal settlement, citing that this dwelling was constructed without the consent of the town council, ‘as this person did not even apply for the erven’.

In light of the above, Brinkman now holds a conviction that the upsurge in cases of illegal land grabbing at the town smacks of a politically motivated ploy to see the council fail.

Read the full story in this week’s edition.