Land, politics and reform: new book adds to debate

A NEW book of essays on land reform in Namibia and southern Africa was launched by the National Institute for Democracy (NDI) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Windhoek on Friday.

In the compilation, a number of contributors set out to compare the land issue in Namibia to neighbouring Zimbabwe. Titled ‘Who Should Own the Land?’, the book comes at a time when Government has announced its intention of expropriating land and is assessing the success of its two other land reform programmes – Communal Farm Resettlement and the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme.Speaking at the launch, Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Hifikepunye Pohamba said the book enhanced the debate around land reform programmes and approaches in the region.Most authors underline the undeniable link between land reform and political influence in Namibia and other countries in the region.Editor Justine Hunter notes that since the farm invasions in Zimbabwe, “the land question has refused to leave Namibia’s headlines”.Pohamba, who was interviewed by Hunter for the book, declined to comment on the Zimbabwean land reform process.’A MATTER OF SECURITY’However, Pohamba is quoted in the publication as saying “people who are invading land are doing this unlawfully.As a Government, we have to protect the security of Namibians and their property.”As the ‘willing-seller, willing-buyer option’ had not proved a successful option to accelerate land reform over the last nine years, Pohamba said at the launch that expropriation had to be explored “with vigour in the public interest”.He gave the assurance of just compensation for the land expropriated.”Expropriation is a statutory process.It is therefore important that the procedures, as provided for in the statute, are followed to the book and understood in depth,” said the Minister.Since Independence, the Ministry of Lands has acquired 130 commercial farms, comprising a total of 829 486 hectares, on which just over 9 000 people have been resettled.More than 28 000 people have been resettled in communal areas during the same period.’PLAYGROUND OF THE RICH’In his contribution to the book, Windhoek-based economist Robin Sherbourne argues that land reform in Namibia holds out little hope when it comes to improving economic growth and long-term poverty reduction.In an article titled ‘A Rich Man’s Hobby’, Sherbourne contends that commercial farming is becoming the playground of the rich who can afford the land or have inherited it.”Those who are paying for the land at prevailing market prices are unlikely to make a profit.The question to why the price of land is so high has profound implications for the Government’s land reform programme,” says Sherbourne.He says many want to buy farms as a lifestyle choice rather than with the intention of becoming serious full-time farmers.Almost half the recipients of the Affirmative Action loan scheme are part-time rather than full-time farmers.Sherbourne believes that the introduction of a land tax may accelerate the trend of part-time and hobby farmers.THE WORKERSAnother contributor, Wolfgang Werner, discusses the plight of farmworkers in the land reform process, claiming that they tend to be ignored in the wider process of rural development in Namibia.”Land reform and resettlement policies do not accord farmworkers any priority as beneficiaries.Unless this changes, they stand to lose out on the land distribution process,” Werner says in his essay, ‘Promoting Development Among Farmworkers: Some Options for Namibia’.His sentiments are echoed by Lloyd Mambo Sachikonye of the University of Zimbabwe.Sachikonye argues that in both Namibia and Zimbabwe, farmworkers have been neglected as potential beneficiaries in resettlement schemes.In his contribution, ‘Land Reform in Namibia and Zimbabwe: A Comparative Perspective’, he contends that the vulnerability of workers has increased since reforms were undertaken.”In Zimbabwe the loss of jobs and incomes has pushed most former farmworkers into destitution; in Namibia, the farmworkers’ labour union has become increasingly militant in its demands for land rights because their members continue to be sidelined in the reform process,”says Sachikonye.He says the land reform process in Namibia has “at best, been gradual and cautious” – a situation he claims will continue because of limited financial resources and “meagre political will”.This is seen as a key distinguishing factor between land reform in Namibia and Zimbabwe’s choice of the “fast-track” route, which he claims will take many years before it bears fruit.Titled ‘Who Should Own the Land?’, the book comes at a time when Government has announced its intention of expropriating land and is assessing the success of its two other land reform programmes – Communal Farm Resettlement and the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme.Speaking at the launch, Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Hifikepunye Pohamba said the book enhanced the debate around land reform programmes and approaches in the region.Most authors underline the undeniable link between land reform and political influence in Namibia and other countries in the region.Editor Justine Hunter notes that since the farm invasions in Zimbabwe, “the land question has refused to leave Namibia’s headlines”.Pohamba, who was interviewed by Hunter for the book, declined to comment on the Zimbabwean land reform process.’A MATTER OF SECURITY’However, Pohamba is quoted in the publication as saying “people who are invading land are doing this unlawfully.As a Government, we have to protect the security of Namibians and their property.”As the ‘willing-seller, willing-buyer option’ had not proved a successful option to accelerate land reform over the last nine years, Pohamba said at the launch that expropriation had to be explored “with vigour in the public interest”.He gave the assurance of just compensation for the land expropriated.”Expropriation is a statutory process.It is therefore important that the procedures, as provided for in the statute, are followed to the book and understood in depth,” said the Minister.Since Independence, the Ministry of Lands has acquired 130 commercial farms, comprising a total of 829 486 hectares, on which just over 9 000 people have been resettled.More than 28 000 people have been resettled in communal areas during the same period.’PLAYGROUND OF THE RICH’In his contribution to the book, Windhoek-based economist Robin Sherbourne argues that land reform in Namibia holds out little hope when it comes to improving economic growth and long-term poverty reduction.In an article titled ‘A Rich Man’s Hobby’, Sherbourne contends that commercial farming is becoming the playground of the rich who can afford the land or have inherited it.”Those who are paying for the land at prevailing market prices are unlikely to make a profit.The question to why the price of land is so high has profound implications for the Government’s land reform programme,” says Sherbourne.He says many want to buy farms as a lifestyle choice rather than with the intention of becoming serious full-time farmers.Almost half the recipients of the Affirmative Action loan scheme are part-time rather than full-time farmers.Sherbourne believes that the introduction of a land tax may accelerate the trend of part-time and hobby farmers.THE WORKERSAnother contributor, Wolfgang Werner, discusses the plight of farmworkers in the land reform process, claiming that they tend to be ignored in the wider process of rural development in Namibia.”Land reform and resettlement policies do not accord farmworkers any priority as beneficiaries.Unless this changes, they stand to lose out on the land distribution process,” Werner says in his essay, ‘Promoting Development Among Farmworkers: Some Options for Namibia’.His sentiments are echoed by Lloyd Mambo Sachikonye of the University of Zimbabwe.Sachikonye argues that in both Namibia and Zimbabwe, farmworkers have been neglected as potential beneficiaries in resettlement schemes.In his contribution, ‘Land Reform in Namibia and Zimbabwe: A Comparative Perspective’, he contends
that the vulnerability of workers has increased since reforms were undertaken.”In Zimbabwe the loss of jobs and incomes has pushed most former farmworkers into destitution; in Namibia, the farmworkers’ labour union has become increasingly militant in its demands for land rights because their members continue to be sidelined in the reform process,”says Sachikonye.He says the land reform process in Namibia has “at best, been gradual and cautious” – a situation he claims will continue because of limited financial resources and “meagre political will”.This is seen as a key distinguishing factor between land reform in Namibia and Zimbabwe’s choice of the “fast-track” route, which he claims will take many years before it bears fruit.