Nam, Germany launch N$220-m initiative

A SPECIAL N$220 million development project for communities who suffered under German colonial rule a century ago was jointly launched by the Namibian and German governments on a resettlement farm in the Omaheke Region on Friday – four years after it was proposed by Germany.

Beneficiaries are members of the Herero, Damara, Nama and San communities in the Erongo, Karas, Hardap, Omaheke, Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions.They will receive livestock, boreholes and cultural centres that will be built in several settlements and villages. Livestock kraals and quarantine camps are also part of the 133 projects.Several houses will be built from the money, but only for members of the San community, according to Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertina Amathila, who consulted 34 communities about two years ago to listen to their project proposals.’NOT FOR SALE’During the ceremony on the Skoonheid resettlement farm north of Gobabis, where mainly San people were settled by Government, 235 heifers and nine bulls were handed over as part of the initiative. ‘They belong to you, the beneficiaries, and are not for sale,’ Dr Amathila said.’Anyone selling or buying these animals will go to jail and that should be a warning to white buyers who often come to resettlement farms wanting to buy livestock cheaply,’ the Deputy Prime Minister said.NEED FOR SPEEDDr Peter Katjavivi, Director General of the National Planning Commission (NPC), which implements the projects under the Special Namibian-German Initiative, said he hoped that the projects would ‘contribute towards transforming the socio-economic landscape of Namibia’s communities’. ‘We hope that implementation can be speeded up so that the various communities need not wait for too long,’ Katjavivi stressed.German Ambassador Egon Kochanke said the 20 million euros (N$220 million) made available by Berlin would serve ‘to alleviate poverty in areas to which Germany has special historic ties’.’The initiative is to benefit all people living in those areas and is thus meant to actively endorse the Namibian policy of national reconciliation, contribute to poverty reduction and economic growth.’The initiative has not been without controversy. It was surprisingly announced by Germany’s economic co-operation minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul in Düsseldorf, Germany, on May 24 2005, when she and Namibia’s Lutheran Bishop Zephaniah Kameeta received a prize from the Lutheran church for their contribution to reconciliation. The Minister also proposed a bilateral reconciliation committee to be co-chaired by Kameeta to deal with the colonial atrocities under German rule. That committee never materialised.The Namibian Government was not informed about the 20 million euro special initiative and reacted angrily in a press conference through then Information Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.President Hifikepunye Pohamba declined to sign the agreement for the initiative when he paid a state visit to Germany in December 2005.He said at the time that the affected communities first had to be consulted. The agreement was finally signed in 2007 and kicked off in December 2008 with the first livestock delivered to some communities.CONTROVERSY REARS ITS HEADThere is already controversy about the delivery of nine bulls and 235 heifers to Skoonheid farm. ‘There are now over 400 cattle – too many cattle – on Skoonheid, the grazing will not be sufficient,’ a person living on the farm said. ‘The Ministry of Lands, which is the custodian of Skoonhied and for the activities planned and carried out there, was not consulted about this,’ the person said.brigitte@namibian.com.na