DTA wants expropriation
The leader of the official opposition has called for the expropriation of farms owned by foreigners.
Namibia must stop protecting absentee landlords unwilling to sell farmland to the government, says DTA president McHenry Venaani.
The DTA is planning to host a land policy conference from 4 to 6 September - one week before the long-awaited second national land conference.
Venaani believes there must be a frank interrogation of the willing-buyer, willing-seller model in order to create a more socially just formula for the acquisition of land for resettlement purposes.
He urges the government to review the model to allow it to pay a fair value for land in the hands of foreigners unwilling to sell farms that are not productively used.
“That person must be forced by circumstances. Expropriation with fair value, it is part of the constitution. It is already there, but you need to put a category. You need to create a safety belt for those that want to access land,” Venaani says.
He further urges the government not to “shy away” from the reality that some farmers cannot buy land because absentee landlords are still clinging to it despite only using it for hunting once or twice a year.
Spectacular failure
The Swapo government has on several occasions admitted that its willing-buyer-willing-seller policy has failed, but has not adopted a different approach.
In 2013 former president Hifikepunye Pohamba described the model as a “spectacular failure” and that a new alternative for land acquisition must be found.
He also admitted that the Swapo government had not provided enough access to land to previously disadvantaged communities.
In the same year, then defence minister Nahas Angula called on the government to amend the land laws in order to ban foreigners from buying farmland.
Land reform minister Utoni Nujoma last year announced that the government since independence had expropriated only three farms, measuring 15 184 hectares, while foreign nationals still owned 1.4 million hectares of agricultural land in Namibia.
According to him the government paid N$4.9 million for the three farms, named Wyoming, Kansas and Groot Ruigte, in the Omaheke Region.This process came to a standstill in 2006 when farm owners challenged expropriation notices for five farms in the High Court.
According to ministry statistics 126 farms measuring over 620 000 hectares belong to German citizens, while 81 farms measuring 349 000 hectares are owned by South Africans. Fourteen farms are owed by Austrians, ten are jointly owned by Namibians and South Africans, while 12 are jointly owned by Namibians and Germans.
In November last year Nujoma tabled the Land Bill, which sought to ban foreign land ownership, in the National Assembly.
This bill was withdrawn after an outcry from opposition MPs, who felt it needed to include the issue of ancestral land rights.
Ancestral land
Venaani said the historic legacy of land dispossession and foreign ownership must be a central component of any national land policy.
“In addressing these claims focus should be placed on accountability and transparency and in the process establish a culture of openness and trust,” he urged.
JEMIMA BEUKES
The DTA is planning to host a land policy conference from 4 to 6 September - one week before the long-awaited second national land conference.
Venaani believes there must be a frank interrogation of the willing-buyer, willing-seller model in order to create a more socially just formula for the acquisition of land for resettlement purposes.
He urges the government to review the model to allow it to pay a fair value for land in the hands of foreigners unwilling to sell farms that are not productively used.
“That person must be forced by circumstances. Expropriation with fair value, it is part of the constitution. It is already there, but you need to put a category. You need to create a safety belt for those that want to access land,” Venaani says.
He further urges the government not to “shy away” from the reality that some farmers cannot buy land because absentee landlords are still clinging to it despite only using it for hunting once or twice a year.
Spectacular failure
The Swapo government has on several occasions admitted that its willing-buyer-willing-seller policy has failed, but has not adopted a different approach.
In 2013 former president Hifikepunye Pohamba described the model as a “spectacular failure” and that a new alternative for land acquisition must be found.
He also admitted that the Swapo government had not provided enough access to land to previously disadvantaged communities.
In the same year, then defence minister Nahas Angula called on the government to amend the land laws in order to ban foreigners from buying farmland.
Land reform minister Utoni Nujoma last year announced that the government since independence had expropriated only three farms, measuring 15 184 hectares, while foreign nationals still owned 1.4 million hectares of agricultural land in Namibia.
According to him the government paid N$4.9 million for the three farms, named Wyoming, Kansas and Groot Ruigte, in the Omaheke Region.This process came to a standstill in 2006 when farm owners challenged expropriation notices for five farms in the High Court.
According to ministry statistics 126 farms measuring over 620 000 hectares belong to German citizens, while 81 farms measuring 349 000 hectares are owned by South Africans. Fourteen farms are owed by Austrians, ten are jointly owned by Namibians and South Africans, while 12 are jointly owned by Namibians and Germans.
In November last year Nujoma tabled the Land Bill, which sought to ban foreign land ownership, in the National Assembly.
This bill was withdrawn after an outcry from opposition MPs, who felt it needed to include the issue of ancestral land rights.
Ancestral land
Venaani said the historic legacy of land dispossession and foreign ownership must be a central component of any national land policy.
“In addressing these claims focus should be placed on accountability and transparency and in the process establish a culture of openness and trust,” he urged.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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