Farmers evicted from Kavango ‘ready to die with their cattle’

OSHIWAMBO farmers evicted from Western Kavango are undaunted by the prospect of criminal charges against them and are still refusing to budge.

“We are ready for anything, and we have decided to die with our animals if it might be necessary,” said Vilho Hamunyela, one of the evicted farmers, after a meeting at Omuthiyagwiipundi in the Oshikoto Region on Tuesday morning. Hamunyela said unless Government and the Ondonga and Oukwanyama traditional authorities gave them other grazing pastures, they would not remove their cattle herds from Western Kavango.According to Hamunyela, the meeting took note of a decision of Ukwangali Chief Sitentu Mpasi and his traditional authority to lay criminal charges against Oshiwambo-speaking farmers ignoring eviction orders issued by the Kavango Communal Land Board in November.Hamunyela said the evicted farmers are a united front in their refusal to remove their herds, and rejected rumours that some of them might move now that good rains have improved grazing pastures.”We are again advising and demanding [from] our Government, the Ondonga and Oukwanyama Traditional Authorities to remove the fences from the farms in eastern Ondonga and Oukwanyama traditional areas, and divide those farms in a fair and satisfactory way for all of us.Then alone will we move out from Ukwangali and western Kavango as a whole,” Hamunyela said.Another farmer, Shipala Shomoongo, said the country’s leaders have to handle the situation with care.”Our leaders seem to forget quickly, because they know that these cattle owners they now want to arrest are the same people who were assisting the Plan fighters when they were in that area, especially in 1985, with food and meat.But now that some of these people are well off, they forget about us, and want to call us criminals and arrest us,” Shomoongo said.Eviction orders were served on 50 farmers by the Kavango Communal Land Board between November 18 and 23 last year.Lands Permanent Secretary Frans Tsheehama said on Monday that 23 other farmers would be served with similar eviction orders.Failure to comply with the eviction orders could incur a one-year jail term or a fine of N$4 000.Hamunyela said unless Government and the Ondonga and Oukwanyama traditional authorities gave them other grazing pastures, they would not remove their cattle herds from Western Kavango.According to Hamunyela, the meeting took note of a decision of Ukwangali Chief Sitentu Mpasi and his traditional authority to lay criminal charges against Oshiwambo-speaking farmers ignoring eviction orders issued by the Kavango Communal Land Board in November. Hamunyela said the evicted farmers are a united front in their refusal to remove their herds, and rejected rumours that some of them might move now that good rains have improved grazing pastures.”We are again advising and demanding [from] our Government, the Ondonga and Oukwanyama Traditional Authorities to remove the fences from the farms in eastern Ondonga and Oukwanyama traditional areas, and divide those farms in a fair and satisfactory way for all of us.Then alone will we move out from Ukwangali and western Kavango as a whole,” Hamunyela said.Another farmer, Shipala Shomoongo, said the country’s leaders have to handle the situation with care.”Our leaders seem to forget quickly, because they know that these cattle owners they now want to arrest are the same people who were assisting the Plan fighters when they were in that area, especially in 1985, with food and meat.But now that some of these people are well off, they forget about us, and want to call us criminals and arrest us,” Shomoongo said.Eviction orders were served on 50 farmers by the Kavango Communal Land Board between November 18 and 23 last year.Lands Permanent Secretary Frans Tsheehama said on Monday that 23 other farmers would be served with similar eviction orders.Failure to comply with the eviction orders could incur a one-year jail term or a fine of N$4 000.