Standoff at Garib Ost

The children of the late Moses Namiseb have vowed to return to Noordbron, an outpost on Farm Garib Ost in the Dordabis area, where their father had usufruct until his death in March 2017.

The High Court on 26 October 2018 ordered two Namiseb siblings to vacate the premises along with all persons purported to have occupied the outpost within five days after having being served with the order.

The court order restricted the Namiseb siblings from entering the farm without the owners' consent, which would not be “withheld unreasonably”.

They have asked for an extension until the end of January this year before the eviction order is carried out. This was done through their lawyers, Kadhila Amoomo Legal Practitioners.

On 28 January, Amoomo asked farm owners Juljane and Sigurd Hess to postpone the eviction again until March to allow for negotiations over the proposed sale of the portion of land around Noordbron.

On 5 February, however, deputy sheriff Manfred Hennes moved in to remove their belongings and cattle, while the Namiseb siblings fiercely protested.

Since the physical removal of their belongings and cattle from Noordbron, they remained in the corridor next to the main gravel road linking other farms and lodges in the area, a location that could be dangerous because it is out of sight of oncoming traffic.

“We will go back to Noordbron,” said one of the daughters, Martha Namiseb, who has been sitting along the corridor since the eviction weeks ago.

“That is our fireplace; that is where we had weddings and parties. Our people who have died are also buried there,” said the younger sister, Wilma !Games.

Contrary to the Namiseb siblings' claim that Noordbron is the place where they belong, the Hess couple say most of them left the farm in the early 1980s.



Background

Moses Namiseb started working for Hans Joachim Lühl - Juljane's grandfather - in 1965 and with his wife and 13 children stayed on an outpost called Ende.

During a severe drought in 1981, the Ende cattle post was closed and the Namiseb family was moved to the farmstead, where they stayed in one of the employee houses.

According to Juljane, the older Namiseb children at that time, in 1981, were no longer living with their parents on the farm.

Two children - Isaak and Andreas - remained because they had started to work there.

When Juljane's father, Hans-Peter, took over the farm in 1983, Moses remained in his employment for a further three years until his retirement at 60 in 1986. Moses and his wife were then offered a house at the Noordbron outpost, where they were given right of residence for life.

This right of residence, the Hess couple said, was only extended to Moses and Elsa, but excluded their adult children. Moses was also allowed to keep livestock during his retirement.

Juljane maintains that when Moses retired the Namiseb couple moved to Noordbron, but their older children no longer lived on the farm.

The Namiseb family in 2005, however, expressed interest to buy Noordbron, but this offer was declined, and the farm owners then entered into a contract with Moses to clarify both parties' rights and obligations.

Moses' wife, Elsa, passed on in 2012 and when the Hess couple took over the farm in 2015, they entered into a new contract with Moses, which again confirmed his right of residence.

This contract stipulated that one of Moses' daughters, Leopoldina, would stay with her father to take care of him in his old age.

After Moses passed away in 2017, Leopoldina and her son, Tobias, who is also working for the farm, were offered residency. She declined and moved off the farm in February 2018.

The Namiseb siblings in June 2017 again made an offer to buy 1 500 hectares of land around Noordbron, but the farm owners again declined.

According to the Hess couple, the Namiseb siblings were allowed to visit their family graves on the farm, provided that they stick to the farm rules. It was also agreed that Lazarus Namiseb, considered by the siblings as the head of the family, could keep his 11 head of cattle on the farm, subject to a lease amount.

The Hess couple say the lease agreement with Lazarus had not been renewed since February 2018, although the cattle remained on the farm until 5 February this year.

CATHERINE SASMAN