Nangof seeks land conference delay
The umbrella body representing non-governmental organisations says it has doubts about preparations for next month’s second national land conference.
FRED GOEIEMAN
The Namibia Non-Governmental Organisations Forum (Nangof) has requested President Hage Geingob to postpone the second national land conference scheduled for next month.
Uhuru Dempers of Nangof claims that the land reform ministry is not ready for a conference of such magnitude. He says there is too much at stake and the conference is being organised without the involvement of all the stakeholders.
In an interview with Namibian Sun, Dempers expressed concern over the ministry’s state of readiness.
He said they had petitioned the president at the beginning of July to assess the ministry’s state of readiness and suggested that the conference be postponed to allow for “proper” arrangements.
According to sources, the president had expressed his willingness to hear the forum’s concerns and promised that if these concerns were warranted the government would consider a postponement.
Chrispin Matongela, public relations officer at the land reform ministry, said the preparations would go ahead and the conference would take place as planned.
“What state of readiness is Nangof talking about?” Matongela asked.
“Nangof must not involve themselves in things that do not concern them. We have a programme we are following. In fact, the second land conference should have happened last year but was postponed at their demand,” he remarked.
He said the ministry respected Nangof as an organisation that has a stake in land reform but their comments were not helpful in moving the country forward.
Matongela promised to give a comprehensive response to Nangof’s allegations.
Dempers, however, maintained there were no substantive outcomes from the ministry’s recent consultations, which only concerned self-evaluation of policies and procedures.
“The ministry is organising the second national land conference without the involvement of key stakeholders such as traditional leaders, church organisations, farmers’ organisations, rural women’s organisations, NGOs and so on. It was just a few bullet points offered in presentations. What they brought to the regional consultation was self-evaluation.”
Furthermore, he said no research documents were presented to the participants and therefore Nangof wrote to the president, asking him to consider bringing together stakeholders to assess the country’s readiness.
“The president has responded and requested more information, which we are gathering,” Dempers said.
“Consensus building before the conference has not taken place. You must at least agree on certain scenarios, like ancestral land, and decide which direction the conference should go, otherwise it will be chaos,” he argued.
“To those who are saying no ancestral land claims should be entertained: what is Namibia going to do with those who lost ancestral land like the /Khomanin, Afrikaner and !Karakhoen traditional communities? They do not have communal land while people who are sitting on their ancestral land are saying we shouldn’t entertain ancestral land claims,” he argued.
The Namibia Non-Governmental Organisations Forum (Nangof) has requested President Hage Geingob to postpone the second national land conference scheduled for next month.
Uhuru Dempers of Nangof claims that the land reform ministry is not ready for a conference of such magnitude. He says there is too much at stake and the conference is being organised without the involvement of all the stakeholders.
In an interview with Namibian Sun, Dempers expressed concern over the ministry’s state of readiness.
He said they had petitioned the president at the beginning of July to assess the ministry’s state of readiness and suggested that the conference be postponed to allow for “proper” arrangements.
According to sources, the president had expressed his willingness to hear the forum’s concerns and promised that if these concerns were warranted the government would consider a postponement.
Chrispin Matongela, public relations officer at the land reform ministry, said the preparations would go ahead and the conference would take place as planned.
“What state of readiness is Nangof talking about?” Matongela asked.
“Nangof must not involve themselves in things that do not concern them. We have a programme we are following. In fact, the second land conference should have happened last year but was postponed at their demand,” he remarked.
He said the ministry respected Nangof as an organisation that has a stake in land reform but their comments were not helpful in moving the country forward.
Matongela promised to give a comprehensive response to Nangof’s allegations.
Dempers, however, maintained there were no substantive outcomes from the ministry’s recent consultations, which only concerned self-evaluation of policies and procedures.
“The ministry is organising the second national land conference without the involvement of key stakeholders such as traditional leaders, church organisations, farmers’ organisations, rural women’s organisations, NGOs and so on. It was just a few bullet points offered in presentations. What they brought to the regional consultation was self-evaluation.”
Furthermore, he said no research documents were presented to the participants and therefore Nangof wrote to the president, asking him to consider bringing together stakeholders to assess the country’s readiness.
“The president has responded and requested more information, which we are gathering,” Dempers said.
“Consensus building before the conference has not taken place. You must at least agree on certain scenarios, like ancestral land, and decide which direction the conference should go, otherwise it will be chaos,” he argued.
“To those who are saying no ancestral land claims should be entertained: what is Namibia going to do with those who lost ancestral land like the /Khomanin, Afrikaner and !Karakhoen traditional communities? They do not have communal land while people who are sitting on their ancestral land are saying we shouldn’t entertain ancestral land claims,” he argued.
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