The Landless People's Movement Leader, Bernadus Swartbooi, has cautioned the party's top leadership to guard against ethnic division, regionalism, and self-interest.

Swartbooi sent out this warning at the party's political action committee's Leadership and Organisation Capacity Building Workshop, held in Windhoek.

Swartbooi says leaders must look beyond ethnicity and regionalism to achieve party objectives.

Being a leader is the toughest challenge for any human being, says Swartbooi, as they are often vilified and forced to face criticism.

He says the movement is still young, but actions taken by its leaders will now determine whether analysts deem the LPM's formation relevant or not.

The LPM leader also reminded the Political Action Committee to be tolerant and embrace Namibians' diverse cultures and characteristics, unlike in some parts of Africa where the nation consists of a singular tribe. 

"When you come to Namibia, and you start to say, the Nation-State belongs to? Then you have a problem. Here you have Basters, we have Ovambo speakers, we have Nama, you have Hereros, you have coloureds. The question is to whom does the Nation State belong? You must get out of your discomfort and position yourself with a sense of patriotism."

He acknowledged a lack of political experience among attendees, whose qualifications he said were more in skills such as teaching and engineering. 

He urged them not to let that act as a barrier against quick learning of the ropes to aggressively transcend the political landscape.

"You would recall that even here in LPM, we have had people who say 'Since that party has won two regions, it must be a Nama party', and that is a problem! If an ethnocentric political party happens to win institutions of government and some of its members have those assertions about ethnicity, what can you expect in the policy framework from such people."

The conference is set to end on Friday, with seasoned political scholars expected to address the attendees.