Farm countdown starts

GOVERNMENT, in a heralded parliamentary address, yesterday avoided a number of key questions around the planned expropriation of commercial farms.

Addressing the National Assembly, Lands Minister Hifikepunye Pohamba detailed the technical process that would be followed but failed to: * name farms identified by Government;* confirm or deny whether eight farms listed by the ruling party mouthpiece, Namibia Today, would be the first to be targeted;* mention whether Government would act on cheque-book farmers and absentee landlords, despite noting that the Land Conference of 1991 prioritised expropriation in these cases; and* announce how many farms were likely to be affected.On the timeframe, Pohamba said “the Ministry has adequate funds to kickstart the process and will proceed with this option without further delay”.In a speech applauded by Swapo MPs, Pohamba said Government would target farms that had not been made available through the willing-seller-willing-buyer process and serve notice on them.”On receipt of the notice, the owner will be required to prepare and submit a claim for compensation to the Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation who, in this case, is the acquiring authority,” Pohamba said.Once the farmer had revealed his price, the Minister said, Government would send in a team to inspect and evaluate the property before making a counter offer.If a farmer was unhappy with the offer, the Lands Tribunal could be approached.He said compensation would be based on the market value of the land at that time.Pohamba said farmers should not carry out improvements on their land once they had received notice of expropriation because Government would not pay compensation for that.Where a lease existed, Government would pay for the remaining term of such a lease and terminate the contract.Pohamba said Government would buy the land only after consultations with the Land Reform Advisory Commission on which farmers are also represented.When announcing the plans for expropriation last week, Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab said the farms would be taken in the public interest.The Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) demanded an explanation on what “public interest” would be.But Pohamba yesterday refused to clarify the issue.”I would not like to dwell on the academic side of the definition of public interest, but would like to indicate that academic debates on this issue may be thought provoking but will not resolve the problems facing this nation on the issue of land,” he said.He said Government was interested in acquiring land for the landless and not in academic debates.Although Pohamba said the logistics were in place to enable the expropriation of land, he did not give details on whether absentee landlords and cheque book farmers would be targeted in the exercise.”The identification of farms will be in those areas where no offers are forthcoming and where specific land reform programmes have been planned, ” he said.Last week the ruling party’s mouthpiece, Namibia Today, printed the names of the first eight farms it said would be targeted.NAU said judging by the farms named, the exercise appeared more retaliatory than genuine as some the farms listed had seen labour unrest and had been subject of court battles.All eight farms listed are owned by Namibians.* name farms identified by Government; * confirm or deny whether eight farms listed by the ruling party mouthpiece, Namibia Today, would be the first to be targeted; * mention whether Government would act on cheque-book farmers and absentee landlords, despite noting that the Land Conference of 1991 prioritised expropriation in these cases; and * announce how many farms were likely to be affected.On the timeframe, Pohamba said “the Ministry has adequate funds to kickstart the process and will proceed with this option without further delay”.In a speech applauded by Swapo MPs, Pohamba said Government would target farms that had not been made available through the willing-seller-willing-buyer process and serve notice on them.”On receipt of the notice, the owner will be required to prepare and submit a claim for compensation to the Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation who, in this case, is the acquiring authority,” Pohamba said.Once the farmer had revealed his price, the Minister said, Government would send in a team to inspect and evaluate the property before making a counter offer.If a farmer was unhappy with the offer, the Lands Tribunal could be approached.He said compensation would be based on the market value of the land at that time.Pohamba said farmers should not carry out improvements on their land once they had received notice of expropriation because Government would not pay compensation for that.Where a lease existed, Government would pay for the remaining term of such a lease and terminate the contract.Pohamba said Government would buy the land only after consultations with the Land Reform Advisory Commission on which farmers are also represented.When announcing the plans for expropriation last week, Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab said the farms would be taken in the public interest.The Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) demanded an explanation on what “public interest” would be.But Pohamba yesterday refused to clarify the issue.”I would not like to dwell on the academic side of the definition of public interest, but would like to indicate that academic debates on this issue may be thought provoking but will not resolve the problems facing this nation on the issue of land,” he said.He said Government was interested in acquiring land for the landless and not in academic debates.Although Pohamba said the logistics were in place to enable the expropriation of land, he did not give details on whether absentee landlords and cheque book farmers would be targeted in the exercise.”The identification of farms will be in those areas where no offers are forthcoming and where specific land reform programmes have been planned, ” he said.Last week the ruling party’s mouthpiece, Namibia Today, printed the names of the first eight farms it said would be targeted.NAU said judging by the farms named, the exercise appeared more retaliatory than genuine as some the farms listed had seen labour unrest and had been subject of court battles.All eight farms listed are owned by Namibians.