Owner in dark as the State snaps up his farms

THE Ministry of Lands and Resettlement has advertised two farms for resettlement without the foreign-born owner’s knowledge.

The first resettlement applicant has already arrived for a “farm inspection”, The Namibian learnt yesterday. The advertisement appeared in a Government publication last Friday, offering the two farms Wyoming and Kansas, situated about 250 kilometres south-east of Windhoek, for resettlement purposes.The owner, retired eye specialist Dr Rolf Schindler, is a German national who arrived in Namibia in 1985 and has permanent residence here.For a number of years, Schindler was the only eye specialist in the country.He is the third farm owner to have his land forcibly expropriated.The farms Ongombo West, Marburg and Okorusu were confiscated in 2005 and 2006 respectively.Each of Schindler’s two 5 000-hectare farms near Nina have been carved up into three portions measuring approximately 1 600 hectares each.Schindler, who bought the two farms in 2002, said he was unaware of the advertisement.”I was very surprised when a man arrived on Friday in a company car wanting to look around on one of the farms, telling me he had applied to be settled there,” Schindler told The Namibian.”I bought the farms for my retirement,” he said, “but now all those plans are shattered.”Schindler bought the two farms from an Austrian national, Erich Prenn, who obtained a waiver in 1998 from the Ministry of Lands after offering them for sale to Government.At that time, the Ministry was not interested in acquiring the farms.A farming neighbour of Schindler said one of farms, Kansas, was totally unsuitable for resettlement as it had no fenced camps or other farming infrastructure.”Schindler has bought a lot of wild game and brought it there, but to actually farm there professionally with livestock would require substantial investment,” the farmer told this newspaper.Schindler will take the matter to the Lands Tribunal, as he is not satisfied with the price the Ministry has offered him for the farms.He received a letter of expropriation in 2004.About 20 other farmers received letters in the first wave of expropriation notices sent out by the Lands Ministry.On August 12 last year, Schindler received a letter from Minister Jerry Ekandjo, telling him to vacate the farm just before Christmas.This date was later extended to March 22 2007.Schindler said the expropriation was not completed yet.”I have not signed on the dotted line,” he told The Namibian.He would not disclose what price the Ministry offered him.But Lands Minister Jerry Ekandjo saw the matter differently.According to him the Ministry “has already paid 80 per cent of the sum offered to Dr Schindler”.Thus, he told The Namibian yesterday, the expropriation was already completed and therefore the Ministry had advertised the farms for resettlement.”We even granted him extension until March 22, and after that he must leave the farm.He stays there for free during that time, looking after the infrastructure.”The remaining 20 per cent of the purchase fee would be paid out to Schindler once an inspection after the handover date concluded that nothing was missing.The advertisement appeared in a Government publication last Friday, offering the two farms Wyoming and Kansas, situated about 250 kilometres south-east of Windhoek, for resettlement purposes.The owner, retired eye specialist Dr Rolf Schindler, is a German national who arrived in Namibia in 1985 and has permanent residence here.For a number of years, Schindler was the only eye specialist in the country.He is the third farm owner to have his land forcibly expropriated.The farms Ongombo West, Marburg and Okorusu were confiscated in 2005 and 2006 respectively.Each of Schindler’s two 5 000-hectare farms near Nina have been carved up into three portions measuring approximately 1 600 hectares each. Schindler, who bought the two farms in 2002, said he was unaware of the advertisement.”I was very surprised when a man arrived on Friday in a company car wanting to look around on one of the farms, telling me he had applied to be settled there,” Schindler told The Namibian.”I bought the farms for my retirement,” he said, “but now all those plans are shattered.”Schindler bought the two farms from an Austrian national, Erich Prenn, who obtained a waiver in 1998 from the Ministry of Lands after offering them for sale to Government.At that time, the Ministry was not interested in acquiring the farms.A farming neighbour of Schindler said one of farms, Kansas, was totally unsuitable for resettlement as it had no fenced camps or other farming infrastructure.”Schindler has bought a lot of wild game and brought it there, but to actually farm there professionally with livestock would require substantial investment,” the farmer told this newspaper.Schindler will take the matter to the Lands Tribunal, as he is not satisfied with the price the Ministry has offered him for the farms.He received a letter of expropriation in 2004.About 20 other farmers received letters in the first wave of expropriation notices sent out by the Lands Ministry.On August 12 last year, Schindler received a letter from Minister Jerry Ekandjo, telling him to vacate the farm just before Christmas.This date was later extended to March 22 2007.Schindler said the expropriation was not completed yet.”I have not signed on the dotted line,” he told The Namibian.He would not disclose what price the Ministry offered him.But Lands Minister Jerry Ekandjo saw the matter differently.According to him the Ministry “has already paid 80 per cent of the sum offered to Dr Schindler”.Thus, he told The Namibian yesterday, the expropriation was already completed and therefore the Ministry had advertised the farms for resettlement.”We even granted him extension until March 22, and after that he must leave the farm.He stays there for free during that time, looking after the infrastructure.”The remaining 20 per cent of the purchase fee would be paid out to Schindler once an inspection after the handover date concluded that nothing was missing.