Urban Land is Only the Tip, As Issue Politics Win the Day

IF NOTHING else comes from it, the agreement between Affirmative Repositioning (AR) and the government on 24 July 2015 has shaken Namibians out of their comfort zones.

Now we should believe that the role of citizens in independent Namibia’s governance in the sense of participatory democracy should not be confined to marking their crosses in the voting booths every five years and allowing the ruling party carte blanche until the next elections come around. It is important that pressure be consistently applied on elected officials to fix what is wrong.

Foremost, credit must go to Job Amupanda and his fellow AR leaders for their focus as well as persistence, even at the risk of losing the support of people who agree in principle with the issue but not with their sometimes belligerent and threatening approach.

Thankfully, we seem to have a responsive administration too. President Hage Geingob turned away from the aggression, war-mongering and hostility of some of his fellow government and party leaders (Sacky Shanghala, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Sebastian Ndeitunga, Nangolo Mbumba, Sophia Shaningwa, to mention a few) and cut through the clutter to identify the burning issue, albeit at the 11th hour.

Now that the threat of chaos of land occupation which was due to start today, 31 July, is over, and focus has been placed on potentially providing 200 000 housing units in towns all over the country, it might be worth remembering the President’s guiding phrase that no one should be ‘left out’.

While it is not possible to satisfy everybody, it is significant that the 24 July agreement might actually leave behind more than 50% of the population of Namibia – and that is people in rural areas. Perhaps 20% to 30% of the Namibian population can now look forward to having secure tenure over a property which they own as both a home and an asset.

But the same bold thinking and action should be applied to the larger section of Namibian society: that 50% of all Namibians who live on communal land.

Like people in most informal settlements, residents in communal areas are essentially squatters. They may have usage rights (customary land certificates) over a piece of land, but they may not own it. Communal land has no asset or capital value. Agribank, DBN, GIPF and commercial banks would not accept it as collateral.

People who live there will always be reluctant to invest in land without the flexibility to sell it or to build long-term savings, capital assets or nest eggs for the household. (Mind you, this sort of thing only happens to certain select segments, meaning that a huge part of the population is excluded from the economic system of the country).

Ownership title deeds do much more to empower people than merely give pride and assurance that one has residence.

Besides, the usage rights in communal areas is fraught with uncertainties. Traditional authorities (and land boards) function as feudal landlords, expropriating land and dispensing large chunks to the rich and the influential.

For example, about half of Kavango East and West is now occupied by several hundred upper class families. They have been given 99-year leaseholds over about 1,5 million hectares. About 25 000 families squat on the remaining half, most of them without even a scrap of paper for occupation rights. Many are evicted when their chiefs get an opportunity to earn a handsome incentive or favour.

So far, many reports about this travesty have fallen on deaf ears, probably because some of the beneficiaries are Cabinet ministers, lawmakers and law-enforcers. By some estimates, about 60% of the best productive communal land in Kunene, Kavango and Zambezi is owned by non-Namibians in conjunction with the rich and powerful.

Despite legislation forbidding it, such land does get sold. Since the sales are informal and opaque, they usually involve the poor and naïve families selling to vultures at a pittance. There is no system or anyone to ensure fairness as it happens to thousands of residents who suddenly find themselves in newly-declared urban areas.

No wonder too many Namibians are stuck in poverty. So, the momentum of the landmark meeting on 24 July 2015 should not leave half our population behind.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.