Give back ancestral land - Swanu
Give back ancestral land - Swanu

Give back ancestral land - Swanu

The opposition party is demanding constitutional protection for ancestral land rights in Namibia.
Catherine Sasman
Swanu says farms currently owned by white farmers and those occupied by resettled beneficiaries, who have not historically lost land, must be returned to indigenous Namibians who lost land through colonialism.

“Land that is ours; the land we owned previously before colonialism is ours, unless one wants to justify that stolen land can be kept,” said Swanu MP Usutuaije Maamberua.

“People resettled on land lost by indigenous groups should vacate that land.”

Maamberua said government's current resettlement scheme is “corrupt” and “fishy”, adding that Swanu has called for the resettlement programme to be put on hold.

He said mineral rights on such ancestral land should also be returned to the original owners of the land. Currently the rights to minerals, irrespective of landownership, reside with the state.

Swanu said at a media briefing this week that ancestral land rights should be the axis around which all discussions at the second national land conference revolve.

Like the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, Swanu has took strong exception to a remark attributed to President Hage Geingob, who at the opening of the Eenhana expo, was quoted as saying: “Namibia is our ancestral land and therefore we fought for it and got our ancestral land back.”

Swanu said while Geingob claims to have been misquoted, the statement was regrettable and requires the Namibian government to “come clean” on its position with regard to the ancestral land issue.

Swanu said such a statement does not take cognisance of the country's historic realities, saying the different experiences of land dispossession must influence efforts for land justice, so peace and stability can be sustained.

It said the current legislation on land protects the rights of a small minority, while the majority of indigenous Namibians are left without title deeds to land that they lost.



Internal colonisation

Swanu says a denial of ancestral land rights has resulted into what it called “internal colonisation”.

To illustrate its point, it mentioned the Bondelswarts that have lost most of its land and were deported to Gibeon. It said the Topnaars are now confined to a small enclave, after having lost most of their ancestral land.

Swanu said the first indigenous minorities – the San, Hai//om, Topnaars, Kauas, Ovatue, and others - currently face more challenges in terms of realising their indigenous rights, which include land rights.

Maamberua said the San in particular are today confined to what he described as “modern concentration camps” and subjected to group instead of individual resettlement.

He said Tsumkwe, the remaining small settlement area for San, is continually invaded by stronger and more resourced Namibians, which Maamberua said has grave consequences for the future of the San.

He said the Namibian government is complicit in these illegal invasions, because it is not stopping them.

“This is a clear indication that indigenous minority land rights are not protected by political affirmation and need to be guaranteed in the Namibian constitution,” Maamberua said.

Demand for constitutional change

Swanu said specific legislation that flows from a constitutional provision is more likely to satisfy the non-discrimination principle.

It said the constitutional protection of land rights should include expropriation of land.

It proposes that ancestral land claims find its way into the country's legislation, with a proposed cut-off date of 1883.

Catherine Sasman

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Namibian Sun 2024-05-03

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Premier League: Chelsea 2 vs 0 Tottenham Hotspur European Championships Qualifying: Coventry City 1 vs 2 Ipswich Town English Championship: Coventry City 1 vs 2 Ipswich Town Katima Mulilo: 12° | 32° Rundu: 13° | 32° Eenhana: 13° | 32° Oshakati: 15° | 32° Ruacana: 15° | 33° Tsumeb: 16° | 30° Otjiwarongo: 13° | 29° Omaruru: 13° | 31° Windhoek: 12° | 27° Gobabis: 15° | 28° Henties Bay: 14° | 21° Wind speed: 20km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 05:43, High tide: 12:02, Low Tide: 17:54, High tide: 00:23 Swakopmund: 16° | 19° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 05:41, High tide: 12:00, Low Tide: 17:52, High tide: 00:21 Walvis Bay: 16° | 25° Wind speed: 28km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 05:41, High tide: 11:59, Low Tide: 17:52, High tide: 00:20 Rehoboth: 14° | 29° Mariental: 17° | 31° Keetmanshoop: 19° | 31° Aranos: 16° | 31° Lüderitz: 15° | 25° Ariamsvlei: 18° | 33° Oranjemund: 14° | 22° Luanda: 25° | 28° Gaborone: 14° | 27° Lubumbashi: 12° | 26° Mbabane: 12° | 26° Maseru: 11° | 25° Antananarivo: 13° | 24° Lilongwe: 13° | 27° Maputo: 19° | 28° Windhoek: 12° | 27° Cape Town: 15° | 19° Durban: 17° | 28° Johannesburg: 16° | 25° Dar es Salaam: 24° | 28° Lusaka: 15° | 27° Harare: 13° | 28° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.19 | EUR to NAD 19.87 | CNY to NAD 2.56 | USD to NAD 18.51 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.31 | EGP to NAD 0.38 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.68 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.62 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.22 | USD to DZD 134.04 | USD to AOA 834.06 | USD to BWP 13.64 | USD to EGP 47.9 | USD to KES 134.48 | USD to NGN 1349.9 | USD to ZAR 18.51 | USD to ZMW 26.95 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 76046.88 Down -0.04% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1692.54 Up +0.10% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 13322.85 Up +0.03% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 26113.71 Up +6.81% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9146.09 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - 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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 300.62/OZ DOWN -0.01 | Copper US$ 4.49/lb DOWN -0.0096 | Zinc US$ 2 903.80/T DOWN -0.28% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 84.67/BBP UP +0.45% | Platinum US$ 963.48/OZ UP +0.84%