Govt urges support ‘to deliver the goods on expropriation’

LAND expropriation would be “done peacefully and lawfully”, Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Hifikepunye Pohamba, said on Friday when he officially opened the Ministry’s north-west regional head office at Oshakati.

Pohamba referred to Government efforts to redress the land issue, citing the Land Conference in 1991 and the land law of 1995 which made provision for buying farms in cases where owners wanted to sell. But, he said, this had not worked as planned as many farmers had been reluctant to sell, while those who had been willing had sold farms that were in mountainous areas and desert districts where only scorpions, and not animals and people, lived.The Minister said the ‘willing-seller, willing-buyer’ system had not worked and Government had finally decided to expropriate productive farms.”We want your support and assistance in those endeavours as we carry out the land reform programme, including the recently announced expropriation policy, because it is only with the support of every Namibian that the Government can deliver the goods.”Pohamba said that he was inspired by the prayer of Pastor Magdalena Yashalongo from the Oshakati State Hospital who opened the gathering.She asked God whether He could not see that many Namibians did not have land and were sleeping in the open air with their heads, and those of their children, on stones instead of pillows, starving and suffering because they had no land.The official launch was attended by traditional leaders, Church leaders, Government officials, business people, union leaders, governors as well as regional and local councillors.But, he said, this had not worked as planned as many farmers had been reluctant to sell, while those who had been willing had sold farms that were in mountainous areas and desert districts where only scorpions, and not animals and people, lived.The Minister said the ‘willing-seller, willing-buyer’ system had not worked and Government had finally decided to expropriate productive farms.”We want your support and assistance in those endeavours as we carry out the land reform programme, including the recently announced expropriation policy, because it is only with the support of every Namibian that the Government can deliver the goods.”Pohamba said that he was inspired by the prayer of Pastor Magdalena Yashalongo from the Oshakati State Hospital who opened the gathering.She asked God whether He could not see that many Namibians did not have land and were sleeping in the open air with their heads, and those of their children, on stones instead of pillows, starving and suffering because they had no land.The official launch was attended by traditional leaders, Church leaders, Government officials, business people, union leaders, governors as well as regional and local councillors.