Divorce opens Land Tribunal

The long-awaited Land Tribunal has started its operations with an unusual case in which a divorced couple are fighting over a resettlement farm they were granted while married in community of property.

The matter that served before the tribunal yesterday is unprecedented and is not covered in law.

Mara Uazenga, represented by Reya Karuaihe, has appealed the decision of the lands ministry to terminate her right as co-lessee of Farming Unit A in the Omaheke Region.

Karuaihe told the tribunal that relations between his client and her ex-husband soured and she was now denied access to the common borehole.

“These people applied for land while they were married in community of property and the wife was left to farm alone for four years. Then the husband returned… and now she is denied water from a borehole that they secured while still married,” he told the court.

Karuaihe told the court that as a result his client was now forced to drive her cattle to a neighbouring farm for water.

Former parliament member and fulltime commercial farmer Clara Bohitile is one of the tribunal members, along with Windhoek lawyer Elize Angula, who is the chairperson, and her deputy is Clive Kavendjii. Orben Sibeya, also a lawyer, and fulltime commercial farmer Ryno van der Merwe are also members.

The members were appointed by former lands minister Alfeus !Naruseb in 2015 and serve a three-year term.





Happy Ntelamo, counsel for Mara's former husband Zebalth Uazenga, told the tribunal that the “parties are fighting”.

According to Ntelamo they are living on separate parts of the farm “and do not get along”.

The case was postponed to 30 May for the next hearing.

The other cases on the roll were all postponed to later dates in May, June and August.



Tribunal

Angula yesterday said the time had come for the tribunal to be in operation and it could no longer be delayed by lack of resources and funding.

According to her members are paid a mere N$960 as sitting allowance and added that they had submitted a budget to the ministry but were committed to push on with the little they had at their disposal.



“We have cases dating back from 2014. Land has become a very important aspect and there were a lot of complaints from the public. The High Court is inundated with review cases,” she said.



Good timing

According to Angula, the tribunal will hear resettlement appeals, the issue of waivers and compensation in the case of disputes, and the like. In essence, discussions would centre around all the aspects in the buying and selling, and transfer of farmland to the previously disadvantaged.

She added that it would ideally be a body that must hold the lands ministry accountable and the ball was set rolling “at the right time”.

This comes at a time when the country finds itself in the eye of an unprecedented land storm fuelled by what many believe is the unfair resettlement of people.

Just last month Vicky Erenstein Ya Toivo, the widow of the late struggle stalwart Herman Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, found herself at the receiving end of criticism after she was resettled in the Omaheke Region while her husband had already received a resettlement farm.

Her attempt to explain that the first farm was not ideal for the family as it had no proper fencing or infrastructure and was too far from Windhoek, added fuel to the fire as many felt she was not previously disadvantaged and hence had no right to be resettled.

Last year the Landless People's Movement demanded that the ministry of lands release the list of resettlement beneficiaries, charging that a lot of corrupt allocations had been made in the last few years.

The minister denied the request.

Yesterday's hearings highlighted the challenge people face in securing these records, as most appellants indicated they could not get hold of the documents.

Angula told the court that the tribunal would certainly engage the ministry to request records.

JEMIMA BEUKES