MP warns of new ‘Bantustans’ in communal areas

NAMIBIA should be moving away from the Odendaal legacy of human reserves and Bantustans, but judging by the present situation it seems that the country is embracing its apartheid background, a National Council member said yesterday.

“Before long we might be referring to the architect of this dreaded plan as Comrade Odendaal,” National Council member Steve Mogotsi told the House. Mogotsi, Swapo Councillor for the Omaheke Region, was speaking on the Communal Land Reform Amendment Bill, which aims to incorporate portions of State land into existing communal areas.”I’m of the belief that communal land should be developed into full commercial farms,” he said, adding that with scarce money and farmland, it was crucial that Namibia used its resources in a meaningful manner.He said while Government was putting in place measures to address the needs of the people, its efforts were being frustrated by greedy individuals.These individuals, he said, were people who had been allocated resettlement farms, but were still holding onto communal land.”The same practice is prevalent among those who purchased commercial farms,” he said.”The resettlement programmes are meant to make productive land accessible to farmers and not to be used as leisure or weekend excursion land.”Mogotsi called on the Land Board and other relevant institutions to address these issues.Swapo’s Kilus Nguvauva said although a great number of people aspired to move from communal land, their applications for Agribank loans were “collecting dust” because of financial constraints at the bank.”The situation requires from us to revisit the financial position of the Agricultural Bank,” he said, “which according to my understanding has already depleted its financial budget for the year 2005.”Nguvauva also took exception to people who referred to the land issue as “sensitive”.”It is those who are having the big portions of land who are saying this,” he said.”And they are saying this only if there is a problem of farmworkers dumped alongside the road and where Government plans to acquire land for those people.”He said these people should organise a land conference, where they should come up with an acceptable proposal to Government “to bring a radical change to this so-called sensitive issue”.Mogotsi, Swapo Councillor for the Omaheke Region, was speaking on the Communal Land Reform Amendment Bill, which aims to incorporate portions of State land into existing communal areas.”I’m of the belief that communal land should be developed into full commercial farms,” he said, adding that with scarce money and farmland, it was crucial that Namibia used its resources in a meaningful manner.He said while Government was putting in place measures to address the needs of the people, its efforts were being frustrated by greedy individuals.These individuals, he said, were people who had been allocated resettlement farms, but were still holding onto communal land.”The same practice is prevalent among those who purchased commercial farms,” he said.”The resettlement programmes are meant to make productive land accessible to farmers and not to be used as leisure or weekend excursion land.”Mogotsi called on the Land Board and other relevant institutions to address these issues. Swapo’s Kilus Nguvauva said although a great number of people aspired to move from communal land, their applications for Agribank loans were “collecting dust” because of financial constraints at the bank.”The situation requires from us to revisit the financial position of the Agricultural Bank,” he said, “which according to my understanding has already depleted its financial budget for the year 2005.”Nguvauva also took exception to people who referred to the land issue as “sensitive”.”It is those who are having the big portions of land who are saying this,” he said.”And they are saying this only if there is a problem of farmworkers dumped alongside the road and where Government plans to acquire land for those people.” He said these people should organise a land conference, where they should come up with an acceptable proposal to Government “to bring a radical change to this so-called sensitive issue”.