The agriculture ministry has urged Namibians to follow legal procedures when resolving communal land disputes, following a recent fatal shooting in the Oshikoto region.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform made this statement on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after the incident at Iikokola village on 2 January.
During the incident, two headmen, Sam Nepando and I-Ben Nashandi, were allegedly shot by Sinskus Johannes during a land dispute.
Nepando died at the scene, while Nashandi is still recovering.
“Cases of land grabbing, illegal fencing, the allocation of land in sensitive areas, and the uncoordinated allocation of land in communal areas are on the increase,” the ministry says.
“This includes land grabbing by non-Namibians, sometimes under the pretext of marriage.”
The ministry further warns that no one may start any developmental activities on communal land, even where land has been provisionally allocated, before being issued with a communal land rights certificate approved by the relevant communal land board.
The ministry is calling on Namibians to exercise tolerance when dealing with land disputes.
“It should be a collective responsibility for all of us to preserve and protect communal land resources against land grabbing and the irresponsible self-allocation of land.”
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