AR land bill scary – NAU

The Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) says the proposed bill on the regulation of foreign ownership of land in Namibia by the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, if promulgated in its current form, would be unconstitutional and may impact current and future investments by foreigners.

The NAU said this during its presentation on the bill to the parliamentary standing committee on natural resources last week.

AR has urged members of parliament to do something useful for their people by passing a bill prohibiting foreign nationals from owning land in Namibia. The movement also wants legislation to reaffirm, and give power, control and ownership of the land to previously disadvantaged Namibian citizens.

The Job Amupanda-led radical movement wants parliament to provide conditions and circumstances on the use of land by foreign nationals.

The NAU said that foreign investment is an important driver for the Namibian economy and agriculture is no exception.

According to the union most of the foreign investment in Namibian agriculture is channelled to high-value export crops and during the last decade billions of Namibian dollars were invested on the southern border of Namibia, which created thousands of employment opportunities for Namibians.

Export crops

According to the NAU, the agriculture ministry announced in March that massive investment opportunities were available next to the Okavango, Kunene and Zambezi rivers.

“The current existing green schemes already have more than 5 000 hectares of land available, with further potential for development,” it said.

It added that the recently completed Neckartal Dam, with an irrigation capacity of about 5 000 hectares, also needs additional investment of at least N$1 billion in irrigation infrastructure to capitalise on the government’s investment in the construction of the dam.

“We, therefore, need to create investor confidence and maintain policy surety for investors to grow our sector and create local employment and value addition to our economy.”

According to the union, the Bill proposed by the AR is formulated overly broad in its purpose and effect and, if it is promulgated in its current form, would have an unconstitutional and severely injurious impact on the fundamental right of Namibian-owned companies and corporations to acquire, own and dispose of land in Namibia protected under Art 16 of the Constitution.

“It will preclude the acquisition of land by other countries to establish and maintain an efficient diplomatic presence in Namibia. It will dramatically and prejudicially affect the ownership of commercial agricultural land by all foreign nationals who had obtained the government’s consent under existing legislation and policies to acquire and own such land and who, on account of such consent, had made substantial investments in such land to enhance the production and infrastructure thereof; to create employment and contribute to the economy of the country.”

The union further said that it may detrimentally affect Namibia’s standing as a respected member in the eyes of the international community; and in effect, will wave a red flag for all – and much-needed - foreign investments in the country and result in a substantial drop in the GDP, employment opportunities for Namibians and diminish the welfare of its people.