Govt to speed up land reform

THE Ministry of Lands and Resettlement is concerned about the seemingly slow pace at which land is acquired for resettlement, especially in the past year.

‘The Ministry has experienced some challenges like the slow pace at which land is being acquired, especially during the 2009-10 financial year. This is attributed to the fact that the willing seller, willing buyer principle does not yield the desired output,’ said Deputy Lands Minister Henock ya Kasita at a ministerial planning workshop last week.’I take cognisance of the Namibian people’s concern in this regard and hope to improve things in the next financial year by exploring other options to hasten the land acquisition process,’ he told the workshop, but he did not say how this would be accomplished.According to the latest annual report of the Lands Ministry for the 2008-09 financial year, only three farms were bought, although the Ministry receives N$50 million annually from Treasury to buy land and collects another N$20 million annually from land tax. According to the Auditor General’s latest report on the Ministry’s land Acquisition and Development Fund for the 2008-09 financial year, the Ministry had accumulated N$190,5 million sitting in the bank to buy land. During the same year, farmers offered 188 farms to the Ministry and 85 farms were waived because there were buyers for them from a previously disadvantaged background. Another 85 of the 188 farms offered were rejected as they were found unsuitable for resettlement. The remaining 20 farms were withdrawn by the owners.