RAMPANT stock theft, high unemployment and landlessness among the /Khomanin clan of the Damara tribe drew together a group of people at a smallholding west of Windhoek on Saturday.
The meeting was called by Chief Josephat Gawa!nab of the /Khomanin (people from Khomas) to not only ease the growing tension between his people and some commercial farmers in the Baumgartsbrunn area but brainstorm on solutions.Hundreds of small and large livestock of commercial and communal farmers in the area have been stolen over the past couple of years – mainly by unemployed youth who sell the meat in Windhoek.Both the /Khomanin traditional authority and the commercial farmers agree that the stock theft is not limited to the unemployed youth and that an organised syndicate has also infiltrated the area to steal the animals and sell them at informal markets in Windhoek.Chief Gawa!nab said he called the meeting to avoid conflict between the two groups or even their descendants in the future.He said the stock theft was a direct result of the poor education the /Khomanin children as well as children of farmworkers in the area were getting at schools like Baumgartsbrunn.Many others, he said, opted for stock theft as a means of survival after their parents and grandparents were evicted from nearby commercial farms after years of labour and had no land to farm on.Wickus Esterhuizen, one of the farmers who attended the meeting, pointed out that education, knowledge and respect were key to prosperity and that Gawa!nab’s concerns were genuine.He said the commercial farmers were willing to assist and had done so in the past at schools such as Baumgartsbrunn, which caters to the children of farmworkers, but the quality of education was not up to standard.Former councillor for Windhoek Rural constituency and now a farmer Albert Tsuob suggested that the group set up a committee and involve the Police to curb crime in the area.His previous experience, he said, indicated that even some white businesspeople were involved in the stock-theft syndicate as they would buy and have the meat sold at markets in Katutura.Chief Gawa!nab said he has already told his people at Baumgartsbrunn to get rid of dogs since some are being used for illegal hunting in the area.’Together, we can root out stock theft. It’s good that our authority now has an office at Baumgartsbrunn. We can use the office to co-ordinate activities from there,’ he said.He also called on members of the community and farmers to volunteer as reservists to help the Police fight crime.The farmers called on the justice system to be watertight, as habitual criminals are getting bail easily and pilling up cases while damaging the country’s economy.The two groups agreed to set up a committee which will not only fight crime but have a holistic look at what contributes to it.
