Call for dialogue on Gam issue

By: NANGULA SHEJAVALI

AS farmers from the Gam area consult with lawyers on what action to take over Government’s confiscation of their livestock, calls are being made for better dialogue on the issue.

According to reports in a local English daily, representatives of the Gam farmers are in Windhoek to consult on the matter with lawyer Patrick Kauta of Dr Weder, Kauta and Hoveka Inc. Efforts to reach Kauta or the Gam farmers’ representatives for comment on the matter proved futile.
Government began confiscating the cattle in truckloads on Sunday, for transport to quarantine centres in Kavango, Mangetti and Oshivelo, from where they will be auctioned off and possibly slaughtered, with no compensation other than an ex gratia payment to the Gam farmers.
The decision was taken by Cabinet last week – six weeks after the farmers destroyed a veterinary cordon fence hoping to find better grazing ground for their cattle, but sparking an animal health crisis and breaking various national laws in the process.
The confiscation has caused an uproar in various circles.
The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) described the move as ‘illegal’ given that the cattle had been confiscated by the Police and not the Government, and are thus evidence in the judicial process.
Meanwhile, Chief Uaakutjo Kambazembi of the Kambazembi Royal Traditional Authority of Otjozondjupa Region made a written request to President Hifikepunye Pohamba on Wednesday for “urgent dialogue”, saying the Nyae-Nyae issue needs to be handled with “caution, flexibility and mercy”.
Kambazembi requested that Cabinet convene a meeting between traditional leaders and the Government, “aimed at arriving at an appropriate and informed decision, which will avoid disunity and hatred among our people”.
Explaining this position, he wrote: “Recalling our bitter history of resistance against the German imperial forces, which resulted in some of our people fleeing into Botswana, the Gam communities have been subjected to socio-economic upheavals ever since their return from that country. Despite the offence our people have committed by illegally entering the protected Nyae-Nyae conservancy, we should not lose sight of the fact that cattle are their only means of survival and have spiritual values to them, their women and children.”

LAND QUESTION

But access to land seems to remain the long-term issue, and has emerged as one of the most pressing, yet unaddressed concerns in this saga, with both the Swanu and Nudo parties making calls for a second land conference.
Nudo President Chief Kuaima Riruako told The Namibian on Wednesday that “land and resettlement remain issues to be resolved, although people are talking around these matters as if they are already solved”.
“We want a land conference to discuss these issues to the final decision, rather than leaving it to the willing seller, willing buyer approach” he said.
Riruako said in the case of the Owambo farmers who moved their cattle into the Kavango Region, the Government had employed a more consultative process in terms of the law, and had been more lenient than in the case of the Gam farmers. He appealed for the same kind of dialogue in resolving the Gam cattle matter in an “amicable way to avoid repercussions”.
“There is a need to reverse the anger, think together, sit down and discuss, and come up with something tangible that is acceptable to both sides.”
Supporting the view of the LAC on the confiscation, Riruako charged that in its decision to confiscate the cattle, Cabinet had flouted the judicial process and declared itself the judiciary, instead of observing the legal process.
The Nudo Youth League (NYL) also issued a press statement condemning Cabinet’s “lack of consultation with all other stakeholders in the farming sector”.
They added that they regard the land issue as the underlying concern that needs to be resolved.
nangula@namibian.com.na

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