It's about trust
While dealing with the thorny issue of the full list of resettlement beneficiaries, which government either doesn't have or is loath to disclose, President Hage Geingob said last week there is a burning need to infuse the resettlement process with accountability and transparency.
“Numerous allegations have been made regarding the pre-2010 list and this troubles me deeply. No evidence has been provided to support the allegations of corruption and while corruption can't be ruled out, it is not inconceivable that the challenge around releasing the list has to do with poor recordkeeping,” Geingob said during the closing of the country's second national land conference in Windhoek on Friday.
“As the data on persons and areas of resettlement is an important management tool, a concerted effort will be made to find or use the available information to recreate a complete resettlement list, even if it means conducting an audit of all the resettlement farms.”
Now, this immediately raises some critical issues.
Why is this list not complete, especially if the resettlement process is supposed to have been transparent from the get-go?
Secondly, on which basis did Geingob tell the conference opening last Monday that the resettlement criteria were not followed in some cases?
Clearly, he should already have had such information at his disposal when he made such an utterance.
Thirdly, what, if anything, will be done in such cases?
The resettlement issue, and who benefited illegally, will remain a source of deep concern for ordinary Namibians.
There have been consistent and irresistible arguments put forward that the connected have benefited, to the detriment of the poor and landless.
What will the punitive measures be against these individuals and those who oversaw their resettlement?
Will they be named and shamed? Will their land be taken away and given to rightful beneficiaries?
The crux is that the landless have thus been nailed twice - first by colonialism/apartheid and then by sitting democratic governments.
This goes to the heart of trusting the current administration with all resolutions taken at the land conference.
“Numerous allegations have been made regarding the pre-2010 list and this troubles me deeply. No evidence has been provided to support the allegations of corruption and while corruption can't be ruled out, it is not inconceivable that the challenge around releasing the list has to do with poor recordkeeping,” Geingob said during the closing of the country's second national land conference in Windhoek on Friday.
“As the data on persons and areas of resettlement is an important management tool, a concerted effort will be made to find or use the available information to recreate a complete resettlement list, even if it means conducting an audit of all the resettlement farms.”
Now, this immediately raises some critical issues.
Why is this list not complete, especially if the resettlement process is supposed to have been transparent from the get-go?
Secondly, on which basis did Geingob tell the conference opening last Monday that the resettlement criteria were not followed in some cases?
Clearly, he should already have had such information at his disposal when he made such an utterance.
Thirdly, what, if anything, will be done in such cases?
The resettlement issue, and who benefited illegally, will remain a source of deep concern for ordinary Namibians.
There have been consistent and irresistible arguments put forward that the connected have benefited, to the detriment of the poor and landless.
What will the punitive measures be against these individuals and those who oversaw their resettlement?
Will they be named and shamed? Will their land be taken away and given to rightful beneficiaries?
The crux is that the landless have thus been nailed twice - first by colonialism/apartheid and then by sitting democratic governments.
This goes to the heart of trusting the current administration with all resolutions taken at the land conference.
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Namibian Sun
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