'We are sidelined'

The Namibian government was in no uncertain terms told to not only single out resettlement, to but give the same high priority and attention to all other land-related issues in the country.

Furthermore, its current land policies and unequal land allocations are the most critical issues affecting the villages of Tses and Berseba in the country'' south.

Issues of unequal distribution of land, loopholes in the current resettlement process, discrimination in land allocation and the alleged silencing of outspoken leaders on these issues, were highlighted two weeks ago during the civil society organisations (CSO) working group on land consultation in the //Karas Region.

These consultative meetings are being held in preparation of the second land conference, which was slated for the end of this year but has now been postponed to next year at a date yet to be determined. The working group, spearheaded by social scientist and land reform activist, Sima Luiperd, which also covered other villages in the

//Karas Region, in a media statement said the residents of Tses and Berseba have expressed concern about a lack of access to land, water, housing, development, tenure on resettlement farms, poor participation in the current land reform debate and consultations with the youth.

However, a number of residents singled out the policy of resettlement as the most burning issue that should be revisited urgently as it is allegedly discriminatory in nature, especially with respect to the allocation of land to the indigenous people of the south.

“The unequal distribution of land and the alleged unfair and skewed resettlement process that is apparently only benefiting the political elite and people from other regions at the expense of the local inhabitants, must also be urgently reviewed,” were the calls that were mostly heard.

The residents cited the deputy minister of land reform and resettlement Bernadus Swartbooi as one of the people whose voices are allegedly being silenced by those who are opposed to the fair and equitable distribution of land.

Swartbooi has been vocal on a number of issues of late and the residents have charged that their former governor is being silenced.

In a strongly worded statement, Tses Village Council chairperson and councillor Margaret Basson, called into question Namibia''s commitment to a fair and equitable land reform programme.

She said the country''s commitment to land reform seems questionable as there are apparently covert attempts to silence the voices of outspoken political leaders like Swartbooi.

“This action raises serious questions about our government''s commitment to land reform,” she said.

She specifically cited Swartbooi''s recent pronouncements on land at the annual cultural festival of the Damara ethnic group at Okombahe where he urged the OvaHerero, Nama and Damara communities to stand up and fight for the land from which their ancestors were forcefully and brutally removed by colonialists and resettled on less fertile land.

She urged the residents to “firmly stand behind our former governor”.

“Without our land we cannot exist because that is where we dwell for our livelihoods. So this is a burning issue which needs to be addressed urgently,” she said.

Meanwhile community land activist, Timotheus Pieters, called for a federal state in Namibia, because in his opinion, the unitary state has deprived people indigenous people of access to their ancestral land.

“There is general resentment that in the //Karas Region that the indigenous inhabitants are being sidelined when it comes to the resettlement programme and that their ancestral land is being given away to other ethnic groups which in the first place never lost land during colonial era,” Pieters said.

Kaptein Dawid Frederick of Soromas Traditional Authority of !Aman Nama clan called on the central government to return the function of land allocation to the traditional authorities.

This he said would eliminate land being allocated solely on the basis of political affiliation. He urged his subjects not to give up the fight to reclaim their ancestral land saying their forefathers whose skulls are still in Germany were killed because of land which they must now reclaim as it is their rightfully theirs.

“Does the slogan of ''One Namibia, One Nation'' still have any relevance. It seems to have been used to push the Nama people to the fringes of society?” he questioned.

The landless communities of Koës and Aroab in //Karas Region are unhappy with the current resettlement programme and have warned that the manner in which people are being resettled may fuel xenophobia.

According to the CSO working group media statement, veiled xenophobic threats were specifically made at an Aroab meeting where angry community members forcefully invaded resettlement farm Dickbusch, 45km west of Aroab.

“We are tired of watching others being resettled while we apply in vain,” numerous residents were quoted as saying.

They further accused Governor of //Karas Region, Lucia Basson, of favouritism and nepotism. She allegedly recently referred to some Aroab residents as South Africans who apparently do not deserved to be treated as Namibians.



FRED GOEIEMAN