Minister of Urban and Rural Development James Sankwasa said chiefs are responsible for their people and appealed to both politicians and traditional leaders to ensure communities benefit from government support.

Speaking at the recently held Lusata cultural festival hosted by the Mafwe Traditional Authority, he noted that the government is making available cash-for-work and food-for-work programmes in every constituency, separate from drought and flood relief.

"We have such high unemployment, especially among the youth; they must have access to that cash for work. Identify small projects that the youth can work on; those who need food can work on them."

Sankwasa urged chiefs and district leaders to identify vulnerable families and submit their names through the governor's office so they can be assisted. 

Furthermore, the minister also touched on the responsibility traditional leaders have with regard to safeguarding land, saying that historically, chiefs have always been in charge of land; however, allocation was always done beyond the intended boundaries, leading to dispossession.

He cautioned against selling off communal land or making it only available to those with cash.

"You can travel to Ethiopia. You can travel to China. I've been there myself. You'll never find a Black person or even a European having land in China, but in Namibia, especially the Zambezi Region, land is taken by the Chinese. What is going on here? Who is going to protect the Namibians? I'm repeating, I'm requesting and appealing to the traditional leaders to take care and protect the land, because land does not increase in size; what increases is the size of the population on that piece of land."

Sankwasa stressed that this goes against the essence of traditional leadership, reminding leaders that the Traditional Authorities Act designates chiefs as custodians of communal land and that protecting it remains their paramount duty.