Resettled farmers 'pushed off' their land
Former farmworkers say they have been pushed into a corner of the land allocated to them while 'politicians' have registered the remaining land in their wives' names.
Seventh-generation farmworkers resettled on Unit B of Farm Meyerton 175 claim there is a concerted effort to push them off the land to benefit people with political connections.
The farmers were recently reprimanded by the lands division of the Kunene regional office for allegedly overstocking the 1 790-hectare farm. They were told that they had exceeded the carrying capacity of the unit by 434 head of cattle. They were instructed to reduce the livestock or face losing the farm. They were also accused by the regional office of illegally subletting the farming unit without the authorisation of land reform minister Utoni Nujoma. The observations by the regional lands division were said to have been based on an inspection conducted in October last year and the reprimand was sent to them five months later.
Background
The farms Meyerton 175, Langeleë 363 and Nissen 358 were donated to the Namibian government by the late Carl List in 2002.
The farms were then divided into several farming units, named A to J. The former farmworkers were allocated Unit B on the basis of equal undivided shares. Jona Nelumbu and Anastasia Neumbo were allocated adjacent units. In early 2015 the lands ministry investigated a dispute between the former farmworkers on Unit B and Nelumbu over his allotted 2 185-hectare Unit F on Farm Langeleë Post 2. This dispute arose from a complaint by Nelumbu that the former farmworkers had illegally occupied his camps by grazing their livestock and erecting dwellings there.The ministry's report recommended that the farmworkers vacate Unit F.
Not true, say farmworkers
The farmworkers dispute these findings and accuse Nelumbu and others from adjoining farms of having stealthily encroached on their unit.
They say Nelumbu first requested in 2005 to use water from Unit B and has since physically moved his boundary fence. In fact, the farmworkers previously complained to the lands ministry that their unit had not been properly demarcated, cheating them out of what they were supposed to get.
They further claim that they were supposed to have been resettled at seven different posts on Unit B in housing they had paid for by means of salary deductions.
Instead, they say, they have been pushed into a corner “by politicians” who have since registered the remaining land in their wives' names while their houses have fallen into a state of disrepair. “We have been kicked out of our houses. We are very unhappy about the situation. We would not have struggled this much if the government had intervened. We are very worried,” says Arnold Gaeseb, whose late father, Ruben Gaeseb, was one of the original resettlement beneficiaries. The farmworkers say they have repeatedly reported the matter to the police and other government institutions since 2003 but nothing has been done. They further claim that the lands division in the Kunene Region refuses to give them a map of the farming units in the area. They say they also approached the ombudsman's office at Otjiwarongo, but the file reportedly went missing.
“They are playing cat-and-mouse games with us,” said a representative of the farmworkers, Salmon Awarab.
“Are there two governments in Namibia? One allocates land and the other takes it away. Which is the right government?” asked Elias Khaiseb.
The Unit B beneficiaries also dispute the accusations that they have overstocked the land and are illegally subletting portions. They say the alleged tenants are in fact their relatives. “This is the way they are trying to evict us from the farm,” says Claudius Hunibeb, a relative of one of the original resettled beneficiaries, Frederick Hunibeb.
The ministry
The deputy director of the lands ministry in the Kunene Region, Gary Nekongo, who was also one of the authors of the 2015 investigation report, says “some of the allegations” by the former farmworkers are not true.
He insists that the alleged illegal tenants, even if they are relatives of the beneficiaries, cannot stay on the farm without the minister's permission. Nekongo insists that the farmworkers have “minimal livestock” and that the remaining livestock belong to people they are subletting the land to.
“The problem with the seven is that they have brought in other people,” Nekongo says.
CATHERINE SASMAN
The farmers were recently reprimanded by the lands division of the Kunene regional office for allegedly overstocking the 1 790-hectare farm. They were told that they had exceeded the carrying capacity of the unit by 434 head of cattle. They were instructed to reduce the livestock or face losing the farm. They were also accused by the regional office of illegally subletting the farming unit without the authorisation of land reform minister Utoni Nujoma. The observations by the regional lands division were said to have been based on an inspection conducted in October last year and the reprimand was sent to them five months later.
Background
The farms Meyerton 175, Langeleë 363 and Nissen 358 were donated to the Namibian government by the late Carl List in 2002.
The farms were then divided into several farming units, named A to J. The former farmworkers were allocated Unit B on the basis of equal undivided shares. Jona Nelumbu and Anastasia Neumbo were allocated adjacent units. In early 2015 the lands ministry investigated a dispute between the former farmworkers on Unit B and Nelumbu over his allotted 2 185-hectare Unit F on Farm Langeleë Post 2. This dispute arose from a complaint by Nelumbu that the former farmworkers had illegally occupied his camps by grazing their livestock and erecting dwellings there.The ministry's report recommended that the farmworkers vacate Unit F.
Not true, say farmworkers
The farmworkers dispute these findings and accuse Nelumbu and others from adjoining farms of having stealthily encroached on their unit.
They say Nelumbu first requested in 2005 to use water from Unit B and has since physically moved his boundary fence. In fact, the farmworkers previously complained to the lands ministry that their unit had not been properly demarcated, cheating them out of what they were supposed to get.
They further claim that they were supposed to have been resettled at seven different posts on Unit B in housing they had paid for by means of salary deductions.
Instead, they say, they have been pushed into a corner “by politicians” who have since registered the remaining land in their wives' names while their houses have fallen into a state of disrepair. “We have been kicked out of our houses. We are very unhappy about the situation. We would not have struggled this much if the government had intervened. We are very worried,” says Arnold Gaeseb, whose late father, Ruben Gaeseb, was one of the original resettlement beneficiaries. The farmworkers say they have repeatedly reported the matter to the police and other government institutions since 2003 but nothing has been done. They further claim that the lands division in the Kunene Region refuses to give them a map of the farming units in the area. They say they also approached the ombudsman's office at Otjiwarongo, but the file reportedly went missing.
“They are playing cat-and-mouse games with us,” said a representative of the farmworkers, Salmon Awarab.
“Are there two governments in Namibia? One allocates land and the other takes it away. Which is the right government?” asked Elias Khaiseb.
The Unit B beneficiaries also dispute the accusations that they have overstocked the land and are illegally subletting portions. They say the alleged tenants are in fact their relatives. “This is the way they are trying to evict us from the farm,” says Claudius Hunibeb, a relative of one of the original resettled beneficiaries, Frederick Hunibeb.
The ministry
The deputy director of the lands ministry in the Kunene Region, Gary Nekongo, who was also one of the authors of the 2015 investigation report, says “some of the allegations” by the former farmworkers are not true.
He insists that the alleged illegal tenants, even if they are relatives of the beneficiaries, cannot stay on the farm without the minister's permission. Nekongo insists that the farmworkers have “minimal livestock” and that the remaining livestock belong to people they are subletting the land to.
“The problem with the seven is that they have brought in other people,” Nekongo says.
CATHERINE SASMAN
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