Throw black farmers a lifeline - Ueitele
The Ancestral Land Commission has pleaded with the government to throw black farmers a lifeline and support them, just like Germany and apartheid South Africa did for their people who had settled in Namibia.
When he presented President Hage Geingob with their interim report, the commission chairperson, High Court Judge Shafimana Ueitele, said Agribank was obtaining court orders for the repossession of 179 farms.
The report stated that although the government had adopted well-intentioned land reform programmes such as the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme (ALS), these programmes lacked a robust environment to nurture and support professionally and financially.
According to the Ueitele, most of the farms sold on auction usually end up in the hands of white farmers. Ueitele said the commission was conscious of the perceived failure of black farmers, but urged the government not to give up on its people and stand by them and propel historically disadvantaged Namibians to become agriculturally successful and improve food security in the country.
In 2017 Agribank Namibia called in the help of debt collectors to start collecting an outstanding N$500 million in loan repayment from farmers across the country.
At that time the bank had disbursed loans to clients to the tune of N$2.4 billion and for the first time made use of external debt collectors.
This came amid protests from a group of disgruntled loan holders who demanded that their repayment periods be extended to a maximum of 33 years, without undue delay.
These farmers claimed that they had been blacklisted following the bank's decision to rope in debt collectors to collect outstanding loan arrears that have been accumulating over the years.
Ueitele this week said this was a retrogressive step in the process of land redistribution and land reform and must be addressed urgently.
“We have heard cause and were implored to what we also learn from history is that both the Germans and South Africans supported the settlers they had transplanted to Namibia,” he said.
The commission also found that both the colonial and apartheid regimes, after dispossessing the black majority, constantly adopted policies and programmes to consolidate white settlement and to create an agriculture-based industry which excluded the majority of black Namibians, he said.
The commission also found that all land in the country is committed and there is no existing alternative land in communal and commercial land and it can only be made available through reclassification of land use.
Agribank spokesperson Rino Murando said the bank had already made proposals on how the ALS should be restructured, but the call to revamp will ultimately land in government's lap.
“There are obviously a lot of challenges in how to use it to access land, but government must make that call to reform it,” he said.
[email protected]
JEMIMA BEUKES
When he presented President Hage Geingob with their interim report, the commission chairperson, High Court Judge Shafimana Ueitele, said Agribank was obtaining court orders for the repossession of 179 farms.
The report stated that although the government had adopted well-intentioned land reform programmes such as the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme (ALS), these programmes lacked a robust environment to nurture and support professionally and financially.
According to the Ueitele, most of the farms sold on auction usually end up in the hands of white farmers. Ueitele said the commission was conscious of the perceived failure of black farmers, but urged the government not to give up on its people and stand by them and propel historically disadvantaged Namibians to become agriculturally successful and improve food security in the country.
In 2017 Agribank Namibia called in the help of debt collectors to start collecting an outstanding N$500 million in loan repayment from farmers across the country.
At that time the bank had disbursed loans to clients to the tune of N$2.4 billion and for the first time made use of external debt collectors.
This came amid protests from a group of disgruntled loan holders who demanded that their repayment periods be extended to a maximum of 33 years, without undue delay.
These farmers claimed that they had been blacklisted following the bank's decision to rope in debt collectors to collect outstanding loan arrears that have been accumulating over the years.
Ueitele this week said this was a retrogressive step in the process of land redistribution and land reform and must be addressed urgently.
“We have heard cause and were implored to what we also learn from history is that both the Germans and South Africans supported the settlers they had transplanted to Namibia,” he said.
The commission also found that both the colonial and apartheid regimes, after dispossessing the black majority, constantly adopted policies and programmes to consolidate white settlement and to create an agriculture-based industry which excluded the majority of black Namibians, he said.
The commission also found that all land in the country is committed and there is no existing alternative land in communal and commercial land and it can only be made available through reclassification of land use.
Agribank spokesperson Rino Murando said the bank had already made proposals on how the ALS should be restructured, but the call to revamp will ultimately land in government's lap.
“There are obviously a lot of challenges in how to use it to access land, but government must make that call to reform it,” he said.
[email protected]
JEMIMA BEUKES
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