Ongombo settlers in limbo

WORKERS resettled on a farm expropriated by Government last year have neither the funds nor the implements to start farming.

The farm Ongombo West, which is situated 40 kilometres east of Windhoek, belonged to Hilde Wiese and was the first farm in Namibia to be expropriated by the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement last September. One of the former employees at Ongombo West, Elias Hoebeb, received a letter on June 13 2006 from the Ministry informing him and his family that they were allocated Unit A on the farm, with a size of 1 391 hectares.”We were very happy about that, because it means that my relatives and I can stay on the farm; we are about 40 people,” Hoebeb told this newspaper at the farm on Tuesday.”The big problem is that we have no farming implements, no money to buy diesel for the water pump and also no transport.”According to Hoebeb, they even struggle to putfood on the table each day.”The plants in the vegetable garden have died because there is no water.We have a few goats and we are slaughtering some so that we can eat,” Hoebeb told The Namibian.A few elderly relatives are also living in the former workers’ quarters and their pension money helps the group to eke out a living.The farmstead is deserted and all the flowers in the garden have died.A supervisor of the Ministry of Lands is living in the empty house and he sees to it that nothing gets stolen.On enquiry, the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement said it helped all newly resettled people, but had to work in concert with other ministries.”The needs of the people at Ongombo West who received their confirmation letter for resettlement must be assessed first,” said Crispin Matungela, the public liaison officer in the Ministry of Lands.”Extension officers come from the Agriculture Ministry and the co-ordination might take a bit of time, but they will receive assistance,” Matungela told The Namibian this week.The Wiese family left the farm in compliance with the compulsory sale agreement last November and Government paid N$3,7 million as compensation.The farm was expropriated after a dispute arose between the owners and some of the workers.Six farmworkers were dismissed in a dispute after an employee, Cornelia Rooinasie, said she killed a goose “by accident”.The owners demanded that she pay compensation.Then Heinz Wiese, the husband of owner Hilde, shot and killed a goat belonging to an employee, saying it was in a restricted area of the farm where the farmworkers were not allowed to graze their livestock.The worker demanded compensation from him for the goat.The whole labour dispute snowballed and became political.One of the former employees at Ongombo West, Elias Hoebeb, received a letter on June 13 2006 from the Ministry informing him and his family that they were allocated Unit A on the farm, with a size of 1 391 hectares.”We were very happy about that, because it means that my relatives and I can stay on the farm; we are about 40 people,” Hoebeb told this newspaper at the farm on Tuesday.”The big problem is that we have no farming implements, no money to buy diesel for the water pump and also no transport.”According to Hoebeb, they even struggle to putfood on the table each day.”The plants in the vegetable garden have died because there is no water.We have a few goats and we are slaughtering some so that we can eat,” Hoebeb told The Namibian.A few elderly relatives are also living in the former workers’ quarters and their pension money helps the group to eke out a living.The farmstead is deserted and all the flowers in the garden have died.A supervisor of the Ministry of Lands is living in the empty house and he sees to it that nothing gets stolen. On enquiry, the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement said it helped all newly resettled people, but had to work in concert with other ministries.”The needs of the people at Ongombo West who received their confirmation letter for resettlement must be assessed first,” said Crispin Matungela, the public liaison officer in the Ministry of Lands.”Extension officers come from the Agriculture Ministry and the co-ordination might take a bit of time, but they will receive assistance,” Matungela told The Namibian this week. The Wiese family left the farm in compliance with the compulsory sale agreement last November and Government paid N$3,7 million as compensation.The farm was expropriated after a dispute arose between the owners and some of the workers.Six farmworkers were dismissed in a dispute after an employee, Cornelia Rooinasie, said she killed a goose “by accident”.The owners demanded that she pay compensation.Then Heinz Wiese, the husband of owner Hilde, shot and killed a goat belonging to an employee, saying it was in a restricted area of the farm where the farmworkers were not allowed to graze their livestock.The worker demanded compensation from him for the goat.The whole labour dispute snowballed and became political.