It’s Not The Land...
PLEASE allow me to respond to your letter “Land Grab Is Inevitable In Namibia” published in The Namibian (written by Jahanika).
I feel your pain. It is, after all, a pain shared by most Namibians, including me. I do, however, not agree with your solution, at all. Contrary to your belief, the land never was, and never will be, the “main factor of production”. God didn’t give you land when you were born, but two hands and a brain. For a reason.
The land, on the other hand, is, in fact, the fastest ticket to financial ruin, especially at current prices and the total absence of capital and common business sense of everyone who’s standing in the “I-want-land” queue. This is demonstrated beyond doubt by the many (or is that all?) unsuccessful resettlement projects in Namibia and by all the ministers who have farms but still hang on to their second job of being a minister. I feel that “production”, or rather the economic emancipation of Namibia, can only be achieved by hard work, first and foremost. Industrialisation and the total utilisation of the tourism potential of Namibia have a limited lifespan. Both of these will be totally destroyed with a land grab, together with basically everything else you, I, and everybody else who ever worked for this country, ever created. Proof of this is at hand in our neighbouring countries.
Also, do you know that Germany has already paid for every hectare of privately owned land in Namibia, above market value, in the form of very generous development aid since 1990? You will, of course, find scant evidence of this vast amount of money if you look around you, mostly because it wasn’t used to buy farms, but vanished into the holes dug by the Swapo government much faster than it could be supplied by the German taxpayer. Close those holes with your next vote, and I very nearly guarantee that life will be better for all of us.
Which will, of course, never happen. I do agree with your main argument, namely that land grab is indeed inevitable. It is the last trump card of the Swapo government. After all their tactics of divide and rule, reverse racism, tribalism and election rigging have failed, as they must. Then you will have your land grab, Swapo will have another 15 years in power, and after that nothing will be left of this country.
Your hunger for land will finally be stilled, to be replaced by a hunger in your belly, the like of which you have never known before. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes and dust to dust, just as it was when the Germans arrived here. The circle of life will be complete for Namibia, and us.
Arthur Götz
By email