Bernadus Swartbooi


Bernadus Clinton Swartbooi is a Namibian politician who was Governor of the ǁKaras Region before being appointed as Namibia's deputy minister of lands and resettlement in 2015 by President Hage Geingob, a position he subsequently was forced to resign from in January 2017. On 27 July 2017, Swartbooi was removed from Parliament and resigned from SWAPO after which he went on to form the Landless People's Movement. Swartbooi attended secondary school at Suiderlig Senior Secondary School in Keetmanshoop. While at studying at the University of Namibia, he served as the Secretary General for Namibia National Students Organisation and progressed to be the President of the organisation. He worked as a prosecutor in Tsumeb and Khorixas respectively. He also served as special assistant at the office of the Prime Minister. Swartbooi holds a Basic Education Teaching Diploma from Windhoek College of Education and B juris as well as Bachelor of Laws from the University of Namibia in 2001.

Landless People's Movement

In 2017, after being fired by president Hage Geingob from his ministerial position, Swartbooi formed the Landless People's Movement, a new political party with the aim to bring about change in the country through equitable land redistribution. LPM advocates for distribution of ancestral land to Namibians whose land was dispossessed by German settlers in the 1900s. He is the party's president and chief change campaigner.
In the 2019 Namibian general election, Swartbooi ran as presidential candidate of the LPM. He only gathered 2.7% of the popular vote but is to return to Parliament as the Landless People's Movement gained 4 seats.