More than 1 000 land right claims at Olukonda approved

EXPERTS attached to the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement have verified the customary land rights of more than 1 000 people in the Olukonda area in north-central Namibia during the past four months.

Most of them were approved by the regional Communal Land Board at the end of last month, with the first certificates handed over to the proud owners at a recent ceremony. Richard Witmer, Technical Advisor to the Ministry, who gave a presentation to those involved in Windhoek on Wednesday, the use of aerial photos and the excellent co-operation of traditional authorities and the headmen of the 46 villages concerned made a massive task a lot easier.”We explained to the villagers how to read an aerial photo, which they learnt in a few minutes and they could tell us exactly where the boundaries of their fields were and [this was] verified by the headmen.In other instances we drove to the areas and walked along with the land owners to obtain a clear impression of boundaries,” Witmer said.The experts found land parcels varying in sizes from two hectares up to 80 hectares.However, the Communal Land Boards can only approve land pockets up to 20 ha.Larger sizes must be referred to the Lands Minister, who decides on the merit of each case.The certificates issued show an aerial photo on the reverse side on which the exact boundaries are drawn.However, the deadline set by Government of February 28 2009, when all applications for existing and new customary land rights must be handed in, would need to be extended, said Witmer.According to estimates, there could be nearly 240 000 customary land rights on communal land in all regions, except for Khomas.At least another 170 000 applications must still be submitted, verified on site and approved, a process which takes several years.Marcel Meijs, an expert with the German Development Service DED, gave an overview of the special software required to establish a computerised data base containing al details of applicants, size of the land, its exact location and how to merge the data with the aerial photos.Several development partners provide support for the project with special printers, computer donations and the special software.”We will make the computer programmes more user-friendly, compile manuals for staff of the Lands Ministry for future roll out to the other regions in order to register customary land rights and train ministerial staff in all aspects,” Meijs said.The computerised data base was well protected with access for users only according to authorisation, so that no manipulation could take place.Richard Witmer, Technical Advisor to the Ministry, who gave a presentation to those involved in Windhoek on Wednesday, the use of aerial photos and the excellent co-operation of traditional authorities and the headmen of the 46 villages concerned made a massive task a lot easier.”We explained to the villagers how to read an aerial photo, which they learnt in a few minutes and they could tell us exactly where the boundaries of their fields were and [this was] verified by the headmen.In other instances we drove to the areas and walked along with the land owners to obtain a clear impression of boundaries,” Witmer said.The experts found land parcels varying in sizes from two hectares up to 80 hectares.However, the Communal Land Boards can only approve land pockets up to 20 ha.Larger sizes must be referred to the Lands Minister, who decides on the merit of each case.The certificates issued show an aerial photo on the reverse side on which the exact boundaries are drawn.However, the deadline set by Government of February 28 2009, when all applications for existing and new customary land rights must be handed in, would need to be extended, said Witmer.According to estimates, there could be nearly 240 000 customary land rights on communal land in all regions, except for Khomas.At least another 170 000 applications must still be submitted, verified on site and approved, a process which takes several years.Marcel Meijs, an expert with the German Development Service DED, gave an overview of the special software required to establish a computerised data base containing al details of applicants, size of the land, its exact location and how to merge the data with the aerial photos.Several development partners provide support for the project with special printers, computer donations and the special software.”We will make the computer programmes more user-friendly, compile manuals for staff of the Lands Ministry for future roll out to the other regions in order to register customary land rights and train ministerial staff in all aspects,” Meijs said.The computerised data base was well protected with access for users only according to authorisation, so that no manipulation could take place.