Elections

 

The leader of the Landless People's Movement (LPM), Bernardus Swartbooi, says the sudden resignation of the party's deputy leader, Henny Seibeb, and the Operative Secretary, Edison Isaak, will have no impact on the party's planned election campaign.

Swartbooi says that the LPM has become stronger after the resignation of the two senior leaders.

There is drama brewing at 11 Stephenson Street in Windhoek West, the headquarters of the Landless People's Movement.

The party has been rocked by the sudden and rather shocking resignations of its co-founding members.

The duo have not provided reasons, with both promising to do so at a later stage.

What could have caused this move? Particularly when it comes to Henny Seibeb.

nbc News reached out to Bernadus Swartbooi in an attempt to understand what he makes of the situation that has enveloped his party and what Seibeb's resignation means to the party.

"We know what is happening. We understand how the system works, and we are just jubilant, as we said yesterday, that the party continues to grow, our mandate continues to be the same, and our commitment to get the party to total victory remains the same. So we are undisturbed. We are undeterred. We are completely at ease as a party in terms of what we have done and where we are going, and even tomorrow we will continue to have our massive planning meetings to ensure that we can give ourselves a good space for proper campaigning," said Swartbooi.

Swartbooi also hinted that some dominant political parties will not stop at anything to destroy younger parties.

He says that as the second largest party occupying leadership positions at local authorities, this reality has made political parties uncomfortable, who have resorted to planting operatives to destabilise the LPM from within. 

The communications team of the LPM also released a statement in which it discredited the characters of both Seibeb and Edison.

Henny Seibeb and Bernadus Swarbooi's political friendship goes a long way.

Their political views were shaped by the Swapo Party Youth League. 

They were outspoken former activists of SPYL.

Swartbooi also served as the personal assistant to the retired minister and politician, Libertina Appolus, while Seibeb was the personal assistant to former minister and politician Pendukeni Ivula-Ithana.

So close were the two to influential figures that their political stature grew by leaps and bounds in the party.

But they soon clashed with their political mentors, particularly Seibeb, who was shown the door by Ithana.

After their fallout with Swapo, they went on to form the Landless People's Movement, which saw phenomenal growth in the Hardap and ||Kharas regions and in some local authorities outside these regions.

Seibeb and Isaaks have not made any media statements aside from sharing their resignations on social media.

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NH !Noabeb