Otjimbingwe farm dispute escalates

The Tsoaxudaman Traditional Authority has not yet relinquished its battle for Farm Okongava No. 72 in the Erongo Region that has reportedly been awarded to the private company !Huni-/Urib Investments that plans to mine lithium on the land.It is not clear exactly when the Ministry of Land Reform allocated the farm to !Huni-/Urib Investments as there were no public notifications on this since the farm was advertised for resettlement purposes in January 2016. Similarly, the lands ministry remained silent on questions put to it regarding the matter.Nevertheless, 28 families that the traditional authority had settled on the farm since 2015 have all been served with eviction orders by the attorney-general's office in March. The eviction letters to the small farmers do not bear any government stamp, but they have been accused of occupying the farm illegally and were given 30 days to vacate the land. BackgroundThe government bought Farm Okongava from former Windhoek mayor Björn von Finkenstein in early 2014.In January 2014 the Erongo governor Cleophas Mutjavikua wrote to former lands minister Alpheus !Naruseb to request that Farm Otjiuua No. 37 be added to the Otjimbingwe communal area, which is the smallest communal area in the country. In April 2014 !Naruseb wrote that Farm Otjiuua No. 37 was advertised for possible allotment to prospective resettlement applicants and offered Farm Okongava No. 72 measuring 15 160 hectares as an alternative “for the expansion of the Otjimbingwe area”.In August 2015 the new lands minister Utoni Nujoma strengthened the assurance that the farm would be allocated for the extension of the Otjimbingwe communal area. Then, he wrote to Mutjavikua in a letter dated 10 August 2015 that the ministry was in the “final stages of processing the request” that the farm be incorporated into Otjimbingwe.Nujoma wrote that the ministry was “still seized with the technical processes required to ensure the incorporation of the farm into the said communal area”. “It is envisaged that once finalised this farm will benefit the community of Otjimbingwe through alleviating the grazing pressure and allow general population decongestion of the aforesaid communal area. It is also the thinking of the ministry that this farm be allocated to successful farmers and those with a large number of livestock from Otjimbingwe area to address the challenges associated with the prevailing grazing and carrying capacity circumstances,” Nujoma wrote. In this same letter Nujoma wrote that the farm would not be advertised when the processes were finalised. With this undertaking the Tsoaxudaman authority started to settle small farmers on 900-hectare portions of Farm Okongava since August 2015. The Tsoaxudaman authority therefore reacted with shock and outrage when the lands ministry advertised Farm Okongava No. 72 for resettlement for large and small stock farming purposes in January 2016. BeggingThe Tsoaxudaman authority then wrote various letters to Nujoma, Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and Mutjavikua, and sought an audience with President Hage Geingob as well as the Minister of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, Zephania Kameeta, who hails from Otjimbingwe.The Tsoaxudaman authority has formally requested that the farm be incorporated into the Otjimbingwe communal area and pleaded with Nujoma to withdraw the advertisement. In January 2016 Mutjavikua also wrote a letter to Geingob in which he said the “regional leadership” was “experiencing a serious lack of cooperation with the Ministry of Land Reform to bring about an amicable solution on land-related matters including this issue of Okongava”. Mutjavikua added that the “mutual agreement” reached with !Naruseb was “totally disregarded” by the ministry. U-turnsA senior traditional councillor of the Tsoaxudaman authority said Mutjavikua's stance has since then changed dramatically. “From the outset we have had a very good working relationship with governor Mutjavikua,” said senior councillor of the Tsoaxudaman authority, Jonathan Neumbo. “We got on well with the governor up until a point when things started to happen.”Mutjavikua has since publicly stated that the Tsoaxudaman chiefs have settled “people from the street” onto Farm Okongava. !Huni-/Urib Investments“Before anything gets messed up [or misunderstood] the farm belongs to the government,” commented one of the shareholders and directors of !Huni-/Urib Investments, Thomas Mushimba.Mushimba, a cousin of Nujoma, denied that !Huni-/Urib Investments is occupying the entire 15 000 hectares of Farm Okongava, saying it is currently occupying only a “small area” that used to be part of the “old farm” where a former mining enterprise, Rubikon Mine, was located. “No-one was allocated the farm. Everyone there was illegal. Before we came in there was a dispute. It has nothing to do with us,” said Mushimba. Mushimba, however, did say that !Huni-/Urib Investments is “negotiating” with the government to find a solution for the evicted small-scale farmers.One possible solution he contemplated out loud is the possibility of the company buying an alternative farm and hand this over to the government for possible occupation by the evicted farmers. !Huni-/Urib, which means “gold” in Damara/Nama, belongs to a consortium, said Mushimba. According to the company records at the Registrar of Companies, Mushimba and Swakopmund-based businessman Mark Erwin Welthagen are equal shareholders in !Huni-/Urib Investments. The other director of !Huni-/Urib Investments is South African national Gert Nell. Other directors who have resigned in February are Ivo Alberto Fernandes de Gouveira and Uwe Heinz Bachmann. Mushimba and Nell are directors of a company called Desert Lion Energy Inc., which is owned by !Huni-/Urib Investments, and which runs the “Rubikon lithium project in Namibia”. According to a company brochure of Desert Lion Energy, Mushimba forms part of the Namibian management team and is “assisting with logistics and management of government and social relations”. Nell has 18 years of experience in the mining industry with a “proven track record of metallurgical processing, innovation and project delivery in Namibia and around the world”. On the same brochure under the title “support from Namibian government” Mushimba and Tim Johnston (president and CEO of Desert Lion Energy) pose on a photo with former President Sam Nujoma during a visit to the founding president in the middle of February. What is to become of the small farmers is not yet clear. They have, however, vowed not to leave the matter unchallenged. CATHERINE SASMAN

Otjimbingwe farm dispute escalates

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

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Otjimbingwe farm dispute escalates

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

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