LPM slams Govt for prioritising security jobs

Landless People’s Movement leader Bernadus Swartbooi has criticised the government’s 2026/27 budget prioritising security sector recruitment over essential infrastructure development and agricultural investment.

He said this during his contribution on the 2026/27 national budget debate in the National Assembly on Thursday.

The police last year recruited 2 000 cadet constables, the Namibian Defence Force recruited 1 500, and the Namibian Correctional Service recruited about 400.

In total, recruitment initiated between 4 000 and 5 000 new positions within the security sector for the 2024/25 period, according to reports.

“The ruling Swapo Party promised 200 000 jobs and on average 50 000 per year. But they can’t even get to 2 000 jobs because the reality is . . . there is no money. We are just becoming administrative of the status quo.

“The operational budget continues to grow, and the short-term way for the government to meet the political demand is to increase the operational budget by hiring people in correctional service jobs and other security jobs because there are no real jobs,” Swartbooi said.

He said the government has kept training people since 1990, without considering that the economy needs to grow. A lack of investment is evidence of this, he said.

Swartbooi referred to a parliamentary public committee visiting prisons recently, citing that the government is failing to improve prisons.

Instead, it hires people to guard prisoners and dilapidated infrastructure, he said.

Despite this, the operational budget keeps increasing while the development budget continues to decline, putting the country into a cycle of poverty, inequality and unemployment, he said.

“We have to look at agriculture. The rule to develop rural areas is a non-negotiable issue, and the budget doesn’t address this.”

Swartbooi said training and equipping people with skills without providing them with jobs is pointless.

He said some people become “social delinquents” as a result, with gender-based violence increasing.

Countries with job creation priorities have infrastructure, transport and agriculture as number three or four on their list, Swartbooi said.

Despite the government reducing the expenditure budget, he cannot support it, the LPM leader said.

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