Land conflict at Tsintsabis exposed
Ministry at loggerheads with traditional authority who says they are being sidelined.
The traditional authority and the land reform ministry have clashed on land allocation and distribution at the Tsintsabis settlement in Guinas constituency in the Oshikoto Region.
Tsintsabis has been a settlement farm since 1993 and land ownership is under the control of the lands ministry. However, land allocation and its administration was later hijacked by the traditional authority, a situation that is said to delaying development at the settlement, home to more than 8 000 about 60 kilometres east of Tsumeb.
The long-term conflict was revealed during the two-day Oshikoto regional land conference that ended on Friday. Residents of the settlement claim that they acquired their land through their traditional authorities, but there are claims from the lands ministry officials that they are occupying it illegally.
The deputy director in the lands ministry, Melanie Iiputa, who was also the director of proceedings at the land conference, explained that the situation of Tsintsabis is a conflict between the traditional authority and the ministry in land allocations and distribution.
“The settlement farms are under the control of the ministry, unless there is a gazette that directs the involvement of the local authority. Therefore, Tsintsabis is also a settlement farm that only the land reform ministry has the power to allocate and distribute land,” Iputa said.
The local authority claims that they were given the power by their line ministry to control Tsintsabis which includes land allocations and distribution.
However, Iputa said, “You were only brought in to solve social issues and not to allocate and distribute the land and that is what is delaying development from taking place in Tsitsabis. But we will solve the issue very soon.”
The headman for Oshivelo in Ondonga Traditional Authority and advisor to Oshikoto governor, Erwin Nation Nashikaku, said that since independence the government has been introducing policies and regulations aimed at taking away land from traditional authority control.
“Traditional authorities have been helping the government with land administration since before the country became independent. After independence, every year a new law is being introduced sidelining the traditional authority from land control,” Nashikaku said.
Tsintsabis was established in 1915 when the German colonial power set up a police station to control farmers settled in that area. The Hai//Om were the original settlers of the land, but other tribes moved in especially after independence.
To develop the settlement, a development committee was set up with help of the lands ministry, but the committee lacks the skills, expertise and means available to set up development projects and therefore has turned out to be more of an informal problem solving committee as many people started coming to settle in the farm.
The ministry of lands then invited traditional authority to control the settlement. According to the Oshikoto governor, Henock Kankoshi, when the traditional authority was introduced, it they were not clearly informed on their roles and responsibilities.
“Traditional leaders ended up allocating land to those who want to settle there, while they do not have power to do so. This became a problem when the ministry of lands wants to do their work because the land is already occupied by people who got it from the traditional authority. Traditional leaders are claiming that they were not informed of what they could do and what they should not do,” Kankoshi said.
ILENI NANDJATO
Tsintsabis has been a settlement farm since 1993 and land ownership is under the control of the lands ministry. However, land allocation and its administration was later hijacked by the traditional authority, a situation that is said to delaying development at the settlement, home to more than 8 000 about 60 kilometres east of Tsumeb.
The long-term conflict was revealed during the two-day Oshikoto regional land conference that ended on Friday. Residents of the settlement claim that they acquired their land through their traditional authorities, but there are claims from the lands ministry officials that they are occupying it illegally.
The deputy director in the lands ministry, Melanie Iiputa, who was also the director of proceedings at the land conference, explained that the situation of Tsintsabis is a conflict between the traditional authority and the ministry in land allocations and distribution.
“The settlement farms are under the control of the ministry, unless there is a gazette that directs the involvement of the local authority. Therefore, Tsintsabis is also a settlement farm that only the land reform ministry has the power to allocate and distribute land,” Iputa said.
The local authority claims that they were given the power by their line ministry to control Tsintsabis which includes land allocations and distribution.
However, Iputa said, “You were only brought in to solve social issues and not to allocate and distribute the land and that is what is delaying development from taking place in Tsitsabis. But we will solve the issue very soon.”
The headman for Oshivelo in Ondonga Traditional Authority and advisor to Oshikoto governor, Erwin Nation Nashikaku, said that since independence the government has been introducing policies and regulations aimed at taking away land from traditional authority control.
“Traditional authorities have been helping the government with land administration since before the country became independent. After independence, every year a new law is being introduced sidelining the traditional authority from land control,” Nashikaku said.
Tsintsabis was established in 1915 when the German colonial power set up a police station to control farmers settled in that area. The Hai//Om were the original settlers of the land, but other tribes moved in especially after independence.
To develop the settlement, a development committee was set up with help of the lands ministry, but the committee lacks the skills, expertise and means available to set up development projects and therefore has turned out to be more of an informal problem solving committee as many people started coming to settle in the farm.
The ministry of lands then invited traditional authority to control the settlement. According to the Oshikoto governor, Henock Kankoshi, when the traditional authority was introduced, it they were not clearly informed on their roles and responsibilities.
“Traditional leaders ended up allocating land to those who want to settle there, while they do not have power to do so. This became a problem when the ministry of lands wants to do their work because the land is already occupied by people who got it from the traditional authority. Traditional leaders are claiming that they were not informed of what they could do and what they should not do,” Kankoshi said.
ILENI NANDJATO
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