Today is July 31

Today would have marked the start of a countrywide illegal land occupation, a deadline set by the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, which now says it has informed all its structures not to grab land. Many had warned of violent clashes between the police and landless Namibians illegally occupying land this weekend. A local commentator says the message to suspend the occupation might have been misunderstood by some who were ready to clear and occupy land as from July 31. However, AR land activist Job Amupanda is adamant that all AR structures and, by extension, landless Namibians have been informed about the change in plan. Following a meeting with President Hage Geingob and some Cabinet member, Amupanda and team called off their threat of leading a massive illegal land occupation if the authorities failed to allocate or commit to allocating residential plots to landless Namibians. Today also marks the first phase of the Massive Urban Land Serving Project, which will see the clearing and servicing of 200 000 plots countrywide. Through the AR, about 50 000 applications for residential plots were submitted to local authorities across the country. “We know for sure we have informed our structures and been on radio and we thank the media for carrying our message. Even NBC has been quite helpful in carrying the message,” said Amupanda. He said if people grab land today, it would not be under the AR banner. “We have communicated what our programme is to all our coordinators and our people got the message.” It is this message that political commentator Phanuel Kaapama believes might have been misunderstood by those who were prepared to illegally grab land today. “The challenge is that of effective communication. Because from what I was picking up this morning is that some people think that with the clearing of land now in demarcated areas, they can proceed and put up shacks. “This means that the message has either not reached all the people or has not been understood by some.” Kaapama said the message might have been deliberately ignored by some people. For both the government and AR this was a milestone agreement, which averted a situation of which the outcome is unimaginable, he said. He stressed that it is the responsibility of both parties to ensure that no illegal land occupation takes place today. Earlier, commentator Kaire Mbuende said that after 25 years of peace and stability, Namibia would not want to give the impression of instability. He also questioned whether the AR would have garnered enough support for a mass land grab. WINDHOEK ELVIS MURARANGANDA