MPs fear resettlement farms going to waste

Fears that resettled farmers are turning formerly productive land into useless tracts of land surfaced in the National Assembly yesterday.

Various MPs who took part in the budgetary discussion of the Lands Ministry said that resettled people should maintain and develop the land they have been given.The Deputy Minister of Education, Clara Bohitile, was the first to express concern about resettled farmers put on formerly productive land, only to turn it into useless patches that make no contribution to socio-economic development.Bohitile also expressed reservations about the fact that farms acquired for resettlement purposes are lying idle for prolonged periods before being assigned to beneficiaries.She wanted to know why people could not be resettled on these farms promptly to avoid invasion by intruders who cause widespread destruction to property.’The ministry has a long waiting list. Why not just go to the list to resettle people on the waiting list?’ She asked.Lands Minister Alpheus !Naruseb responded that existing legislation required the ministry to first go through various cumbersome processes, such as advertising the farms and demarcating them into economically viable units.Some of these processes cannot be sped up, he said.He said the ministry was revising the laws on land administration and the process was at an advanced stage.!Naruseb however stressed that the ministry does not plan repossessing any resettlement farm at this stage, as Government has not adequately supported beneficiaries thus far.Deputy Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, Kazenambo Kazenambo, took issue with ‘black colonialists’.Kazenambo lashed out against rich black people who abused the resettlement programme at the expense of those who really needed help.He said it was unacceptable that people who had top positions in Government, state-owned enterprises and the private sector could benefit from the resettlement programme.DTA MP McHenry Venaani said resettlement farms should act as incubation centres for aspiring commercial farmers. – Nampa