‘Livestock don’t belong on our roads’

ROAD users are complaining about farmers who graze their livestock in the road reserves along national roads.

One irate caller to The Namibian said the Ministry of Lands should do something to find grazing for these farmers, as the animals were a road hazard. “The Government should do something immediately, before a big accident is caused by these animals,” the caller said after reading an article that appeared in The Namibian.The article was about David Paulus, a farmer in the Grootfontein district.Paulus had leased grazing on a farm that was sold to Government after his six-year lease contract expired in December last year.Having nowhere else to take his livestock, Paulus has been letting them graze next to the road running through the farm Barbarossahof.He told The Namibian that he had applied to be resettled on the farm after Government bought it, but received no reply from the Ministry of Lands.Approached for comment, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement, Lindwina Shapwa, told The Namibian that the Ministry did not have information about Paulus.When asked if Government could do anything to help Paulus, she said: “The ministry does not deal with emergency matters.If this is an emergency, Paulus can contact the Emergency Management Committee (EMC) which falls under the Office of the Prime Minister.”The Ministry does not deal with the resettlement programmes directly.We have resettlement committees in the regions and these committees are the ones looking at the applicants who applied for resettlement, short-listing and make recommendations of those who qualified for resettlement on a particular farm.”First of all, the farm should be advertised in the newspapers before people start applying for resettlement.”Therefore, people with the same problem as Paulus should approach their regional governors for help.”Paulus is not the only farmer whose livestock are grazing in road reserves.The President of the Namibia Farmworkers’ Union, Asser Hendricks, has been farming in the road reserve on the farm Aris in the Windhoek district for three years now.The Lands Permanent Secretary said the Ministry did not know anything about Hendricks grazing his animals along the B1 main road between Windhoek and Rehoboth.”The Government should do something immediately, before a big accident is caused by these animals,” the caller said after reading an article that appeared in The Namibian. The article was about David Paulus, a farmer in the Grootfontein district.Paulus had leased grazing on a farm that was sold to Government after his six-year lease contract expired in December last year.Having nowhere else to take his livestock, Paulus has been letting them graze next to the road running through the farm Barbarossahof.He told The Namibian that he had applied to be resettled on the farm after Government bought it, but received no reply from the Ministry of Lands.Approached for comment, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement, Lindwina Shapwa, told The Namibian that the Ministry did not have information about Paulus.When asked if Government could do anything to help Paulus, she said: “The ministry does not deal with emergency matters.If this is an emergency, Paulus can contact the Emergency Management Committee (EMC) which falls under the Office of the Prime Minister.”The Ministry does not deal with the resettlement programmes directly.We have resettlement committees in the regions and these committees are the ones looking at the applicants who applied for resettlement, short-listing and make recommendations of those who qualified for resettlement on a particular farm.”First of all, the farm should be advertised in the newspapers before people start applying for resettlement.”Therefore, people with the same problem as Paulus should approach their regional governors for help.”Paulus is not the only farmer whose livestock are grazing in road reserves.The President of the Namibia Farmworkers’ Union, Asser Hendricks, has been farming in the road reserve on the farm Aris in the Windhoek district for three years now.The Lands Permanent Secretary said the Ministry did not know anything about Hendricks grazing his animals along the B1 main road between Windhoek and Rehoboth.