The Urgency Of The Land Question

HOW do we define what we mean by land and why do we say ‘Give the Land Back to the People’? When reference is made to land many Namibians tend to equate it with soil and vegetation.

Land includes all natural resources under and above the earth and sea that belong to the State. By land we refer to Namibia’s abundant wealth – however skewed the access and inequitable distribution under the current capitalist exploitative arrangement in the country.Swanu is guided by its three (tri-partite) ideological underpinnings of Socialism, Revolution and Democracyin establishing the economic management and resources distribution.These three ideological pillars are meant to assist in bringing about meaningful, fundamental, and effective transformation in the standard of living of the broad masses of our people so as to guarantee the future of generations to come.Reverend Hugo Hahn described his impression of Otjozondjupa as follows: “We had never before seen something similar in this part of Africa, and had certainly not expected it… this land is incomparably better than that which we live on…”.After the war, Emperor Wilhelm II declared all land owned by the Ovaherero forfeit in the proclamation of 26 December 1905.This was to be followed by mass “purchase” of land in this case of the Kambazembi land as Dr Mossolow (1993) cites the following examples: * On 27 December, 1907 Degenhardt and Schultz purchased the farm Gross-Otjahevita (5 000 ha) at a price of 50 Pfennig per hectare.* W.Lorang purchased the farm Okawaka, which covered 5 000 ha and was situated at the Smaller Waterberg, at a price of 50 Pfennig per hectare on 24 June 1908 and owned the farm until his death in 1963.* On 24 October 1908, O Rinow bought the 5 000ha farm Okozongominya at 50 Pfennig per hectare.* Gustave Dichman acquired the farm Hamakari, 5 00ha at 1,20 Mark per ha in December 1908.Dr Thomson bought the 5 000ha farm Omuveroumue at 1,20 Mark per ha on 16 March 1910.On 2 June 1911, R.H.A. Schneider paid 2,40 Mark per ha for the farm Ombu-ombapa, which covered about 5 000 ha.When we talk about the stark example of a people who have lost land, wealth and prosperity in Namibia the Kambazembi clan serves as a an outstanding and undisputed example.Kambazembi clan had occupied land from Osire, Otjikururume, Okanjande, Otjenga, reaching Otjikoto in 1871 (Ozongombe ze za kanukasana omajuru no za Chief Nehale uOvandonga).In 1895, his people occupied the watering places at Otavi, Okombahe, Otjomukuyu, Orupupa and Grootfontein.Should the descendants of Kamabazembi therefore suffer at the hands of the German colonial regime, the Apartheid regime of South Africa and currently under our own African government? We say enough! It is said that due to his (Kambazembi) firmness, not a single square inch of land was alienated to traders in his territory.However, his generosity, benevolence and philanthropic spirit truly reflected the African socialism which is evidenced in his actions as he was one who would give a calabash and a cow to the poor or passers-by.”Aayandja ondjupa no ngombe ko mukapite poo komusiona” This is the spirit to which we subscribe as we believe in the dictum: To each according to need, and from each according to ability! Or “Zozanyo paa kuvanyo” Colonisation in Namibia and elsewhere has had historical, political, economic social, and ecological aspects.The ecological implication is the least studied and understood.Take the North (formerly Ovamboland) where the ecological devastation as evidenced by deforestation, population pressure etc, cannot be addressed by means of the land reform programme as envisaged by the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation.The Ministry needs to answer a fundamental question arising from the experience of land reform and resettlement which is whether this process has contributed to a genuine social and economic development of the North or whether it has served merely as an escape valve for social pressures and political expediency.By its own admission the Ministry says ‘…our Government is trying to…address the land question…’ , similarly it admits that ‘…and are still trying to find an acceptable formula in this rather complex exercise…’ The current process of land reform and resettlement does not attempt to create new, more equitable agrarian situations, but merely recreates existing unequal distribution patterns in new areas.We want to see agrarian transformation (please note, not even agrarian reform – we are not reformists), agricultural subsidies enhanced, ploughing services restructured and re-introduced with substantive government participation, enhanced reforestation programmes including investments in alternative sources of energy, all in the context of development endeavours for the North and elsewhere.The task of continuing and directing the liberation struggle was passed to a new generation after the 1904 Genocide committed by Germans against Namibians.The new generation was consolidated through Swanu as the first national liberation movement of all the people of Namibia which continued to represent the interests of the victims of colonisation within the broader framework of the national liberation struggle.It is in this context that we see our role being broader than just politics.We also have social responsibilities.The masses in Namibia have been dispossessed of nearly everything, and they remain so 18 years after independence, yet wealth and resources are abundant.The neo-colonialist arrangement in Africa between the formerly colonised and many foreign corporations will never address the unequal distribution of wealth for the people in Namibia nor will the exploitation of our marine resources by arrangement between local black bourgeois (so-called BEE) and imperialist entrepreneurs and others.Government is inefficient at production, but has the advantage of playing a catalytic role and providing a conducive environment for both local and foreign investors.Resource distribution is what any government can do with most efficiency.The basic means of production will be exercised in conjunction with the private sector until such time that Namibia reaches such high levels of socio-economic justice and reasonable equality and opportunities for all.We believe it is possible to create a society based on fair distribution of wealth and equal opportunities for all, and this is possible if all basic means of wealth distribution and exchange are democratically supervised and controlled for the benefit of the broader spectrum of our people.We would create an enabling environment and mostly concentrate on redistribution of resources.We recognise that all Namibians are equal and should have equal opportunities to national resources.Our ability to find ways to ensure fair access to land will determine our potential in years to come.We cannot overcome our essential difficulties unless we solve the land question.The Ministry of Lands pretentiously states that ‘We are addressing the unequal distribution of wealth and resources’.But land reform and a resettlement approach cannot address these.Land reform by nature and definition is evolutionary.This is understandable given the cold shivers that go down the spine of the Ministry with the word ‘revolution’.The Ministry says, ‘The land Reform Programme calls for patience to deal with land reform in any context otherwise it can degenerate into a revolution and we all know the undesired consequences of revolutions…’ Revolution should be understood in the following definition: ‘radical alteration of a particular condition, state of affairs’ from Oxford Shorter English Dictionary.The Ministry we hope is not oblivious of the examples provided by Green Revolution, Industrial Revolution and similar radical transformations.But if the Ministry is afraid of the consequences of revolutions, we are not.But we abhor anarchy, myopic approaches to fundamental issues, cosmetic changes and reforms.All these are exemplified by the so-called expropriation of Ongombo West and a few others.We would call for a Second Land Consultative Conference with the following objectives: That it must explore permanent remedies to the perennial flooding in the Northern Regions.The ecological impacts as evidenced by the alarming rate of deforestation, population pressure and past colonial devastation cannot be addressed by means of land reform programs.The Conference would recommend that land transformation for purposes of equitable distribution of wealth and resources should be revolutionary in nature, and tangible and visible results should be evident within a period of less than five years.If constitutional provisions are a hindrance to this noble task then they must be amended, because the livelihood and interest of our people are paramount and are the raison d’etre for the existence of any government.It is expected the Conference will advise Namibia on the modalities of bringing about equity in the ownership of land in the Central Business Districts (CBD) of towns and cities in Namibia.Current ownership of the CBDs in all town and cities in Namibia is in the hands of whites and foreigners.It will also have to explore how land expropriated by Germany through genocidal activities and other colonialist manoeuvres will be returned or compensated to the descendants of those who were disposed, displaced and disadvantaged.The northerners or their descendants who have lost land through the forced Labour Contract Systems and ecological devastation dating back to the German colonial period and the Apartheid period will have to be factored into the land equation.We will have to address the question of the ancestral land seriously.At the international level this is now a recognised legal position almost equal to the private property rights enshrined in our Constitution.We therefore recommend that: * A Second Land Conference be held before the end of this year; * A Land Redistribution Fund be set up; * Former colonial powers should be requested to contribute to the Fund; * Germany should pay reparation demands for the genocide; * An investigation must look into floods devastation in the North and recommend remedial measures for the future; * Urgent research be done to look into the link between drought the question of land and population settlement patterns in all parts of Namibia Namibia.The Conference must come up with a clear position on the question of ancestral land before legal claim and undesired occupation of land is carried out by the claimants to the land, particularly people from from south-west and central Namibia.* The author of this opinion piece, Usutuaije Maamberua, is the President of Swanu.By land we refer to Namibia’s abundant wealth – however skewed the access and inequitable distribution under the current capitalist exploitative arrangement in the country.Swanu is guided by its three (tri-partite) ideological underpinnings of Socialism, Revolution and Democracyin establishing the economic management and resources distribution.These three ideological pillars are meant to assist in bringing about meaningful, fundamental, and effective transformation in the standard of living of the broad masses of our people so as to guarantee the future of generations to come.Reverend Hugo Hahn described his impression of Otjozondjupa as follows: “We had never before seen something similar in this part of Africa, and had certainly not expected it… this land is incomparably better than that which we live on…”.After the war, Emperor Wilhelm II declared all land owned by the Ovaherero forfeit in the proclamation of 26 December 1905.This was to be followed by mass “purchase” of land in this case of the Kambazembi land as Dr Mossolow (1993) cites the following examples: * On 27 December, 1907 Degenhardt and Schultz purchased the farm Gross-Otjahevita (5 000 ha) at a price of 50 Pfennig per hectare.* W.Lorang purchased the farm Okawaka, which covered 5 000 ha and was situated at the Smaller Waterberg, at a price of 50 Pfennig per hectare on 24 June 1908 and owned the farm until his death in 1963.* On 24 October 1908, O Rinow bought the 5 000ha farm Okozongominya at 50 Pfennig per hectare.* Gustave Dichman acquired the farm Hamakari, 5 00ha at 1,20 Mark per ha in December 1908.Dr Thomson bought the 5 000ha farm Omuveroumue at 1,20 Mark per ha on 16 March 1910.On 2 June 1911, R.H.A. Schneider paid 2,40 Mark per ha for the farm Ombu-ombapa, which covered about 5 000 ha.When we talk about the stark example of a people who have lost land, wealth and prosperity in Namibia the Kambazembi clan serves as a an outstanding and undisputed example.Kambazembi clan had occupied land from Osire, Otjikururume, Okanjande, Otjenga, reaching Otjikoto in 1871 (Ozongombe ze za kanukasana omajuru no za Chief Nehale uOvandonga).In 1895, his people occupied the watering places at Otavi, Okombahe, Otjomukuyu, Orupupa and Grootfontein.Should the descendants of Kamabazembi therefore suffer at the hands of the German colonial regime, the Apartheid regime of South Africa and currently under our own African government? We say enough! It is said that due to his (Kambazembi) firmness, not a single square inch of land was alienated to traders in his territory.However, his generosity, benevolence and philanthropic spirit truly reflected the African socialism which is evidenced in his actions as he was one who would give a calabash and a cow to the poor or passers-by.”Aayandja ondjupa no ngombe ko mukapite poo komusiona” This is the spirit to which we subscribe as we believe in the dictum: To each according to need, and from each according to ability! Or “Zozanyo paa kuvanyo” Colonisation in Namibia and elsewhere has had historical, political, economic social, and ecological aspects.The ecological implication is the least studied and understood.Take the North (formerly Ovamboland) where the ecological devastation as evidenced by deforestation, population pressure etc, cannot be addressed by means of the land reform programme as envisaged by the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation.The Ministry needs to answer a fundamental question arising from the experience of land reform and resettlement which is whether this process has contributed to a genuine social and economic development of the North or whether it has served merely as an escape valve for social pressures and political expediency.By its own admission the Ministry says ‘…our Government is trying to…address the land question…’ , similarly it admits that ‘…and are still trying to find an acceptable formula in this rather complex exercise…’ The current process of land reform and resettlement does not attempt to create new, more equitable agrarian situations, but merely recreates existing unequal distribution patterns in new areas.We want to see agrarian transformation (please note, not even agrarian reform – we are not reformists), agricultural subsidies enhanced, ploughing services restructured and re-introduced with substantive government participation, enhanced reforestation programmes including investments in alternative sources of energy, all in the context of development endeavours for the North and elsewhere.The task of continuing and directing the liberation struggle was passed to a new generation after the 1904 Genocide committed by Germans against Namibians.The new generation was consolidated through Swanu as the first national liberation movement of all the people of Namibia which continued to represent the interests of the victims of colonisation within the broader framework of the national liberation struggle.It is in this context that we see our role being broader than just politics.We also have social responsibilities.The masses in Namibia have been dispossessed of nearly everything, and they remain so 18 years after independence, yet wealth and resources are abundant.The neo-colonialist arrangement in Africa between the formerly colonised and many foreign corporations will never address the unequal distribution of wealth for the people in Namibia nor will the exploitation of our marine resources by arrangement between local black bourgeois (so-called BEE) and imperialist entrepreneurs and others.Government is inefficient at production, but has the advantage of playing a catalytic role and providing a conducive environment for both local and foreign investors.Resource distribution is what any government can do with most efficiency.The basic means of production will be exercised in conjunction with the private sector until such time that Namibia reaches such high levels of socio-economic justice and reasonable equality and opportunities for all.We believe it is possible to create a society based on fair distribution of wealth and equal opportunities for all, and this is possible if all basic means of wealth distribution and exchange are democratically supervised and controlled for the benefit of the broader spectrum of our people.We would create an enabling environment and mostly concentrate on redistribution of resources.We recognise that all Namibians are equal and should have equal opportunities to national resources.Our ability to find ways to ensure fair access to land will determine our potential in years to come.We cannot overcome our essential difficulties unless we solve the land question.The Ministry of Lands pretentiously states that ‘We are addressing the unequal distribution of wealth and resources’.But land reform and a resettlement approach cannot address these.Land reform by nature and definition is evolutionary.This is understandable given the cold shivers that go down the spine of the Ministry with the word ‘revolution’.The Ministry says, ‘The land Reform Programme calls for patience to deal with land reform in any context otherwise it can degenerate into a revolution and we all know the undesired consequences of revolutions…’ Revolution should be understood in the following definition: ‘radical alteration of a particular condition, state of affairs’ from Oxford Shorter English Dictionary.The Ministry we hope is not oblivious of the examples provided by Green Revolution, Industrial Revolution and similar radical transformations.But if the Ministry is afraid of the consequences of revolutions, we are not.But we abhor anarchy, myopic approaches to fundamental issues, cosmetic changes and reforms.All these are exemplified by the so-called expropriation of Ongombo West and a few others.We would call for a Second Land Consultative Conference with the following objectives: That it must explore permanent remedies to the perennial flooding in the Northern Regions.The ecological impacts as evidenced by the alarming rate of deforestation, population pressure and past colonial devastation cannot be addressed by means of land reform programs.The Conference would recommend that land transformation for purposes of equitable distribution of wealth and resources should be revolutionary in nature, and tangible and visible results should be evident within a period of less than five years.If constitutional provisions are a hindrance to this noble task then they must be amended, because the livelihood and interest of our people are paramount and are the raison d’etre for the existence of any government.It is expected the Conference will advise Namibia on the modalities of bringing about equity in the ownership of land in the Central Business Districts (CBD) of towns and cities in Namibia.Current ownership of the CBDs in all town and cities in Namibia is in the hands of whites and foreigners.It will also have to explore how land expropriated by Germany through genocidal activities and other colonialist manoeuvres will be returned or compensated to the descendants of those who were disposed, displaced and disadvantaged.The northerners or their descendants who have lost land through the forced Labour Contract Systems and ecological devastation dating back to the German colonial period and the Apartheid period will have to be factored into the land equation.We will have to address the question of the ancestral land seriously.At the international level this is now a recognised legal position almost equal to the private property rights enshrined in our Constitution.We therefore recommend that: * A Second Land Conference be held before the end of this year; * A Land Redistribution Fund be set up; * Former colonial powers should be requested to contribute to the Fund; * Germany should pay reparation demands for the genocide; * An investigation must look into floods devastation in the North and recommend remedial measures for the future; * Urgent research be done to look into the link between drought the question of land and population settlement patterns in all parts of Namibia Namibia.The Conference must come up with a clear position on the question of ancestral land before legal claim and undesired occupation of land is carried out by the claimants to the land, particularly people from from south-west and central Namibia.* The author of this opinion piece, Usutuaije Maamberua, is the President of Swanu.