President of the Landless People's Movement, Bernadus Swartbooi, urged the party to strive to secure the majority of the 96 seats in the National Assembly to bring about necessary changes in the country and further restore the dignity of citizens.
Speaking at the party's first national convention, Swartbooi also urged party members to persevere in their efforts to secure positive freedom.
This involves citizens taking firm stances on issues, advocating for change, and speaking out without fear.
Swartbooi underscored the need for party members to earn the trust of Namibians, become reliable forces, and serve their communities in the best way possible.
Swartbooi also commented on the political landscape in South Africa, mentioning the formation of a new unity government involving the African National Congress (ANC) and the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), a remnant of apartheid.
He pointed out that any coalition between the forces of the right and left, such as the ANC and DA, is subject to ideological disputes.
Swartbooi noted that while the intention may be to unify under one political ideology, this goal is not always achieved, particularly in a fresh and fragile democracy like South Africa, which is bound to create problems of political stability and lawmaking.
He expressed concern about a growing trend where foreign forces influence political and state agendas in both South Africa and Namibia.
He alleged that certain political parties in Namibia receive direct funding from foreign sources.
This, he echoed, can have negative effects.
"I know that the intellectual capacity of the two political parties to address themselves to ideological and global political issues is just not present. They don't engage in the analytics of global economic and geopolitical power play. They are merely trying to seek resources to occupy strategic centres of power, merely to hand over that power to other forces from outside. Is this what our freedom has become? That the contest for political power is a contest on behalf of others."
The convention held under the theme "restoration of the dignity of our people" saw convention members being sworn in and the Political Action Committee elected during a closed session.