We’re living in fear: Ongombo workers

THE Namibia Farmworkers Union (Nafwu) yesterday warned Government not to dump workers after the purchase of Ongombo West, a flower-producing farm 30 km northeast of Windhoek.Ongombo is one of 18 farms Government identified for expropriation in the next few months.

Nafwu claimed that it had information that Government had given instructions to the owner of Ongombo West to evict 12 employees and their families (70 people in total) by the end of November before officially handing over the farm. The owner, Hilde Renate Wiese, settled for a price of N$3,7 million despite initially demanding N$9 million, and claimed that Lands Permanent Secretary Frans Tsheehama instructed her verbally to have the workers off the farm before the end of November.She said all she could do was to wait for the money to be cleared, give the workers retrenchment notices and pay them.’GOVT ALWAYS MAKES A PLAN’ The Ministry of Lands denied the allegations and claimed they were “baffled” by the claims that the Government intended to dump the workers.”No threats are known to have been made against farmworkers by the Ministry,” a statement issued by Tsheehama said.”During the process of acquisition of farms for the purpose of resettlement, it had been and remains the practice that the Ministry amicably irons out all issues affecting all the parties living on the farms acquired.No record of persons left destitute by the resettlement process can be pointed out,” the statement said.Nafwu’s outgoing Secretary General Alfred Angula vowed that the union would mobilise fellow workers to stop the eviction of the farmworkers.”We will make sure they are not dumped,” he said.”We are talking about generational workers who have nowhere to go.They are supposed to be the priority on the Government list for resettlement on that farm,” Angula told a press briefing in Windhoek.He insisted that all indications were that the farmworkers would not benefit from the resettlement at Ongombo West.”We are saying, no worker will leave that farm.Let Government evict them.Nobody will leave,” a fired-up Angula said.He said dumping the workers would swell the number of people to be resettled in the country, as they did not know where to go.Ongombo West became a hot spot in late 2003 after a labour dispute between six workers and the son of the owner, Andreas Wiese.The workers refused to go back to work and Wiese fired them.A month later, they were evicted through a court order and left next to a road.The eviction angered Government and former President Sam Nujoma singled out Ongombo West in a speech at a May Day rally.He said “some of the whites are behaving as if they came from Holland or Germany” when it came to evicting their workers.”Steps will be taken and we can drive them out of this land.We have the capacity to do so,” Nujoma said in a speech.Nujoma’s tirade was the last straw for the Wieses, who felt they were being made scapegoats in a political campaign.They accepted Government’s approach to sell the farm as soon as it was made but struggled to get the price they wanted.Last month, Lands Minister Jerry Ekandjo said Ongombo West was in the bag and that Government planned to get people onto the 4 007-hectare farm to continue producing flowers for the European market.Ongombo West exports around 150 000 flowers a year, and the Wiese family was in the process of increasing the exports to 750 000 flowers annually, when the labour dispute resulted in the sacking, eviction and re-appointment of the six workers.Earlier, Hilde Wiese said she was “forced” by the Ministry of Lands to pay N$6 000 in transfer fees, although the buyer usually pays these costs.The farmworkers, who tipped the union off about their fears, said yesterday most of them had nowhere else to go and pleaded that Government find them a place.Angula said the farmworkers had the skills to produce the flowers and only needed someone with the market know-how to move in and assist them.Since Independence, Government has bought around 145 farms amounting to 932 864 hectares for N$130,7 million.Ekandjo said earlier that the price of land had rocketed by 200 per cent since 1990 but that Government had managed to resettle 1 538 families on freehold land and 4 352 families in the communal areas.Land tax was also introduced last year, with Namibians paying 0,75 per cent of the appraised value for the first farm and increasing progressively by an additional 0,25 per cent for the appraised value of any additional farm.Foreigners are taxed at 1,75 per cent for the first farm and this increases by 0,25 per cent for every additional farm.Ekandjo said they hoped to raise N$28,2 million in revenue through land tax this year.The owner, Hilde Renate Wiese, settled for a price of N$3,7 million despite initially demanding N$9 million, and claimed that Lands Permanent Secretary Frans Tsheehama instructed her verbally to have the workers off the farm before the end of November.She said all she could do was to wait for the money to be cleared, give the workers retrenchment notices and pay them.’GOVT ALWAYS MAKES A PLAN’ The Ministry of Lands denied the allegations and claimed they were “baffled” by the claims that the Government intended to dump the workers.”No threats are known to have been made against farmworkers by the Ministry,” a statement issued by Tsheehama said.”During the process of acquisition of farms for the purpose of resettlement, it had been and remains the practice that the Ministry amicably irons out all issues affecting all the parties living on the farms acquired.No record of persons left destitute by the resettlement process can be pointed out,” the statement said.Nafwu’s outgoing Secretary General Alfred Angula vowed that the union would mobilise fellow workers to stop the eviction of the farmworkers.”We will make sure they are not dumped,” he said. “We are talking about generational workers who have nowhere to go.They are supposed to be the priority on the Government list for resettlement on that farm,” Angula told a press briefing in Windhoek.He insisted that all indications were that the farmworkers would not benefit from the resettlement at Ongombo West.”We are saying, no worker will leave that farm.Let Government evict them.Nobody will leave,” a fired-up Angula said.He said dumping the workers would swell the number of people to be resettled in the country, as they did not know where to go.Ongombo West became a hot spot in late 2003 after a labour dispute between six workers and the son of the owner, Andreas Wiese.The workers refused to go back to work and Wiese fired them.A month later, they were evicted through a court order and left next to a road.The eviction angered Government and former President Sam Nujoma singled out Ongombo West in a speech at a May Day rally.He said “some of the whites are behaving as if they came from Holland or Germany” when it came to evicting their workers.”Steps will be taken and we can drive them out of this land.We have the capacity to do so,” Nujoma said in a speech.Nujoma’s tirade was the last straw for the Wieses, who felt they were being made scapegoats in a political campaign.They accepted Government’s approach to sell the farm as soon as it was made but struggled to get the price they wanted.Last month, Lands Minister Jerry Ekandjo said Ongombo West was in the bag and that Government planned to get people onto the 4 007-hectare farm to continue producing flowers for the European market.Ongombo West exports around 150 000 flowers a year, and the Wiese family was in the process of increasing the exports to 750 000 flowers annually, when the labour dispute resulted in the sacking, eviction and re-appointment of the six workers.Earlier, Hilde Wiese said she was “forced” by the Ministry of Lands to pay N$6 000 in transfer fees, although the buyer usually pays these costs.The farmworkers, who tipped the union off about their fears, said yesterday most of them had nowhere else to go and pleaded that Government find them a place.Angula said the farmworkers had the skills to produce the flowers and only needed someone with the market know-how to move in and assist them.Since Independence, Government has bought around 145 farms amounting to 932 864 hectares for N$130,7 million.Ekandjo said earlier that the price of land had rocketed by 200 per cent since 1990 but that Government had managed to resettle 1 538 families on freehold land and 4 352 families in the communal areas.Land tax was also introduced last year, with Namibians paying 0,75 per cent of the appraised value for the first farm and increasing progressively by an additional 0,25 per cent for the appraised value of any additional farm.Foreigners are taxed at 1,75 per cent for the first farm and this increases by 0,25 per cent for every additional farm.Ekandjo said they hoped to raise N$28,2 million in revenue through land tax this year.