LPM's grassroots land conference

A “people's” indaba is planned to ensure grassroots voices are heard.
Catherine Sasman
What is dubbed the “People's Land Conference” under the banner of the Landless People's Movement (LPM) with technical and advisory support from Namibian Non-Governmental Organisations Forum (Nangof), is set to take place from 8 - 10 September ahead of the second national land conference slated for 13 - 18 September.

The LPM's conference is said to prepare a “people's position” on the burning land issue which promises to “ensure that the voices from grassroots level are articulated and heard” even if they are not invited to the government-led national land conference.

The Ministry of Land Reform on 19 June announced in the media the dates for its regional consultations to be held in July also in preparation for the national conference. These dates have been postponed from a draft schedule circulated earlier in June.

The national chairperson of the People's Land Conference, Henny Seibeb, yesterday said the “people's conference” will review the history of land dispossession in Namibia.

Discussions will also focus on constitutional law and restorative justice and ancestral land claims, lessons from the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme (AALS), governance and institutional issues of land reform, as well as a critical review of the resettlement policy and programme and an increasingly so-called “elite land grabbing”.

The conference hopes to investigate options or models for the development and support of communal areas, including virgin land, as well as the interrogation of an agrarian land reform programme.

It will further consider how absentee and foreign ownership of land ought to be dealt with, as well as how farming and mining rights should be harmonised.



Urban land reform will similarly be in the spotlight.

The LPM has invited a number of international players involved in restorative land claims. This includes an invitation to La Via Campesina, which is an international movement, including 17 African nations, bringing together peasants, small- and medium-size farmers, landless people, and indigenous people in defence of small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice based on food sovereignty.

Other international players invited are the Landless Peoples Movement of South Africa, land activists from Botswana, the Institute of Agrarian Reform based in Zimbabwe, the Brazilian Landless People, groups from Bolivia, Venezuela, and Mexico, Native American First People, as well as aboriginal groups from Australia and New Zealand.

Seibeb said the conference will devise resolutions which will be taken to the second national land conference.

“We want to start with our campaign because we feel Swapo is an ethnic party, which will never resolve the land issue,” Seibeb, himself a Swapo member, said.

According to him all other political parties in Namibia, with the exception of Swapo, are in agreement with the pursuance of ancestral land claims.

To pull off this conference, the LPM relies on donations from its members, international development partners and philanthropists.

CATHERINE SASMAN

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-29

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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$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 36° Rundu: 19° | 29° Eenhana: 19° | 29° Oshakati: 21° | 30° Ruacana: 20° | 33° Tsumeb: 19° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 29° Omaruru: 19° | 32° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Gobabis: 17° | 30° Henties Bay: 16° | 20° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 11:22, High tide: 05:24, Low Tide: 23:26, High tide: 17:46 Swakopmund: 16° | 17° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:22, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:44 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 27km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:21, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:43 Rehoboth: 19° | 30° Mariental: 23° | 34° Keetmanshoop: 24° | 35° Aranos: 22° | 33° Lüderitz: 15° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 35° Oranjemund: 14° | 25° Luanda: 27° | 28° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 26° Mbabane: 16° | 21° Maseru: 11° | 29° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 27° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Cape Town: 17° | 28° Durban: 20° | 24° Johannesburg: 16° | 24° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 20° | 30° Harare: 16° | 29° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.8 | EUR to NAD 20.37 | CNY to NAD 2.61 | USD to NAD 18.88 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.77 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 133.85 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1303.34 | USD to ZAR 18.87 | USD to ZMW 25.01 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 74536 Up +0.85% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1528.69 Up +0.84% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12986.94 Up +0.04% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 27559.35 Down -2.36% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 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 - 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$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53%