Land tribunals, expropriation part of talks

Both the loss of ancestral land and partial restitution were acknowledged at the Khomas regional consultative conference held in Windhoek this week. The Ministry of Land Reform is holding these consultative conferences in all the regions of the country in preparation for the second national land conference scheduled for September. The workshop, held on Monday and Tuesday, asked for proposals and open debates to guide discussions to take place during the second land conference. The proposals made for Khomas came from the 24 resolutions made at the 1991 land conference, most of which were never implemented. Delegates recommended that a tribunal for ancestral land claims be established and that delegates at the September conference also consider the burial rights of resettled beneficiaries. Another proposal was that foreigners should not be allowed to own farmland but should only be given rights to use and develop it on a leasehold basis. It was noted that due to the delay in the enactment of the land bill, the issue was not addressed. It was further resolved that the total hectares of farmland owned by foreign nationals, and their productivity, should be determined and that such owners, as well as absentee landlords, should be invited to participate in the land reform dialogue. Some suggestions made from the floor were that absentee landlords should be compelled to sell their farmland to the state and failure to do so should result in expropriation. A recommendation was also made to revoke the land rights of absentee land owners and resettled Namibians who do not live on and work their land. The delegates also recommended that abandoned and underutilised land should be identified and made productive. The workshop proposed that land should be expropriated without compensation to address land lost by indigenous groups during the colonial period in the country. The delegates also expressed disappointment about the government's budget allocated for land purchases, saying it is not adequate and urged government to consider increasing the annual budget for the land reform programme. It was also suggested that a fixed percentage of the gross domestic product or budget be introduced to ensure land acquisition. “A formula should be established to inform the proposal and modalities for implementation,” it was stated in the recommendations. It was further agreed that the genocide victims and people living with disabilities not included to benefit from the land reform programme should be given special preference for resettlement. The issue of the /Khoman community in the Khomas Region whose land was expropriated, was deliberated and delegates resolved that the government should consider giving the affected people communal land in the region. The government was further asked to introduce what was called “progressive tax” on multiple farm ownership to compel people owning large tracts of land to offer the land to the state for sale. Delegates recommended amending the legislation so that land owners stop registering land under close corporations. They also recommended limiting the number of farms an individual can own as well as the size of the land. They further recommended that non-productive land should be expropriated to the land reform programme. FRED GOEIEMAN

Land tribunals, expropriation part of talks

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-20

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Land tribunals, expropriation part of talks

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-20

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