Kavango farmers get reprieve

THE Oshiwambo-speaking cattle farmers who were chased out of a grazing area in the western Kavango Region about a month ago must return to that area, the High Court ordered yesterday.

The order granted by Judge Collins Parker was the result of a case in which nine cattle owners whose animals had been chased out of the western Kavango Region about a month ago first tried to have heard in the High Court three weeks ago. The first time around, however, Judge Sylvester Mainga threw the case out of court and directed that it could be heard as a semi-urgent matter, since he was unconvinced that the case was as urgent as was claimed.Yesterday, the lawyers representing the five parties who were sued by the nine cattle owners – Ukwangali Traditional Authority Chief Sitentu Mpasi, the Kavango Traditional Authority, the Kavango Communal Land Board, the Minister of Safety and Security, and Government – agreed that the order could be granted.In terms of that order, Chief Mpasi and the other respondents in the case must allow the nine farmers to return to the land where they claim to have been grazing their cattle for years – some since 1991.The Chief and the other respondents may also not infringe on the nine farmers’ “quiet and peaceful possession” of the area and their cattle, and must give the farmers “free, peaceful and undisturbed access of their cattle” in the area.The victory that the farmers scored with the granting of the order may not be the end of their troubles in that part of the Kavango Region, though.In terms of a further part of the order Judge Parker granted, their return to the Kavango Region will remain in force only until actions that the authorities might take in terms of the Communal Land Reform Act – which determines eviction procedures pertaining to communal land.In effect, then, yesterday’s court order might only be giving the farmers some breathing space before they might again be facing eviction from the grazing areas in the Kavango Region – as long as due legal process is followed the next time that attempts are made to get them to leave the Kavango Region.The nine farmers, who claim to belong to an organisation known as the “Ovawambo Herders Association”, informed the court in affidavits that they had a total of about 1 670 head of cattle grazing in the western part of the Kavango Region until the traditional authority led by Chief Mpasi, with the assistance of the Namibian Police, started arresting their cattle herders and driving their animals to the west into an area where the cattle did not have access to water.Conflict over the presence of Oshiwambo-speaking farmers in that part of the Kavango Region had been building up for months before the farmers’ cattle were chased from their grazing areas last month.The situation has since deteriorated further, with cattle posts and huts used by the cattle owners in the area having been torched in the meantime.The first time around, however, Judge Sylvester Mainga threw the case out of court and directed that it could be heard as a semi-urgent matter, since he was unconvinced that the case was as urgent as was claimed.Yesterday, the lawyers representing the five parties who were sued by the nine cattle owners – Ukwangali Traditional Authority Chief Sitentu Mpasi, the Kavango Traditional Authority, the Kavango Communal Land Board, the Minister of Safety and Security, and Government – agreed that the order could be granted.In terms of that order, Chief Mpasi and the other respondents in the case must allow the nine farmers to return to the land where they claim to have been grazing their cattle for years – some since 1991.The Chief and the other respondents may also not infringe on the nine farmers’ “quiet and peaceful possession” of the area and their cattle, and must give the farmers “free, peaceful and undisturbed access of their cattle” in the area.The victory that the farmers scored with the granting of the order may not be the end of their troubles in that part of the Kavango Region, though.In terms of a further part of the order Judge Parker granted, their return to the Kavango Region will remain in force only until actions that the authorities might take in terms of the Communal Land Reform Act – which determines eviction procedures pertaining to communal land.In effect, then, yesterday’s court order might only be giving the farmers some breathing space before they might again be facing eviction from the grazing areas in the Kavango Region – as long as due legal process is followed the next time that attempts are made to get them to leave the Kavango Region.The nine farmers, who claim to belong to an organisation known as the “Ovawambo Herders Association”, informed the court in affidavits that they had a total of about 1 670 head of cattle grazing in the western part of the Kavango Region until the traditional authority led by Chief Mpasi, with the assistance of the Namibian Police, started arresting their cattle herders and driving their animals to the west into an area where the cattle did not have access to water.Conflict over the presence of Oshiwambo-speaking farmers in that part of the Kavango Region had been building up for months before the farmers’ cattle were chased from their grazing areas last month.The situation has since deteriorated further, with cattle posts and huts used by the cattle owners in the area having been torched in the meantime.