Zim land experts to help expropriation process

ZIMBABWE has seconded six land “experts” to Namibia, as Government’s planned expropriation of commercial farms begins to gather momentum.

The land evaluators from Zimbabwe, whose own land reform process degenerated into lawlessness, arrived in the country on Sunday to assist in the evaluation of seized land. The secondment apparently followed a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two governments after Namibia had sought its neighbour’s assistance in the field of land evaluation and surveying.The Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation in Windhoek was unwilling to comment on the “secondment” of the Zimbabweans.But Zimbabwe’s government-controlled daily, The Herald, quoted Namibia’s ambassador there, Ndali-Che Kamati, as saying apart from evaluating expropriated farms for purposes of paying compensation for developments on the properties, “the team would also offer training services”.”We need expertise to help us determine the level of compensation we will pay for the farms that we have acquired.In this regard we believe Zimbabwean professionals can really help us with issues of compensation,” Kamati told The Herald.”We want to deal with the matter immediately, we just started implementing our land reform and in that regard we have a lot to learn from the Zimbabwean experience.”Zimbabwe, unlike Namibia, has refused to pay compensation for any land seized from farmers on the grounds that it was stolen from its rightful owners.Zimbabwe said it would only pay compensation for such improvements as houses and boreholes.The secondment apparently followed a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two governments after Namibia had sought its neighbour’s assistance in the field of land evaluation and surveying.The Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation in Windhoek was unwilling to comment on the “secondment” of the Zimbabweans.But Zimbabwe’s government-controlled daily, The Herald, quoted Namibia’s ambassador there, Ndali-Che Kamati, as saying apart from evaluating expropriated farms for purposes of paying compensation for developments on the properties, “the team would also offer training services”.”We need expertise to help us determine the level of compensation we will pay for the farms that we have acquired.In this regard we believe Zimbabwean professionals can really help us with issues of compensation,” Kamati told The Herald.”We want to deal with the matter immediately, we just started implementing our land reform and in that regard we have a lot to learn from the Zimbabwean experience.”Zimbabwe, unlike Namibia, has refused to pay compensation for any land seized from farmers on the grounds that it was stolen from its rightful owners.Zimbabwe said it would only pay compensation for such improvements as houses and boreholes.