‘Hungry’ Namibians unhappy with land reform

GOVERNMENT only managed to buy eight farms for resettlement in 2009-10, as suitable land from willing sellers continues to hamper land reform in Namibia.

In his foreword to the annual report of the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement for 2009-10, Minister Alpheus !Naruseb said many Namibians are ‘still land hungry’ and feel that the process is progressing at an ‘undesirable pace’.’The current achievement are not close to the recommended and approved targets,’ !Naruseb said in the report, tabled in Parliament last week.According to official targets, 15 million hectares should be redistributed by 2020 – ten million through the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme and five million through the National Resettlement Programme.This boils down to a target of 534 000 hectares of commercial agriculture land that needs to be acquired every year.’Given the unavailability of suitable farm offers from willing seller, the ministry continued to struggle in terms of meeting the set targets,’ the annual report stated.During 2009-10, the ministry received 198 farm offers. However, 43 per cent of the farms were unsuitable for resettlement purposes and the ministry only ended up buying eight.Also disappointing was the verification and registration of land rights of communal land, which, according to the report, ‘have gone on very slow’. Only 5 187 land rights were registered.Of these, most were registered in Ohangwena (1 417) and Omusati (1 013), while 845 land rights were registered in Caprivi.No were registered in Kavango, Oshikoto and Otjozondjupa.The process is hampered by various constraints, according to the report. Among these are the non-recognition of some traditional authorities, as well as the areas of jurisdiction of these authorities. The latter, stated the report, ‘create fiction among traditional chiefs in the allocation and administration of communal land’.