EDITORIAL: Land is a ticking time bomb

At the time of penning, 168 resolutions adopted at the Second National Conference on Land in 2018 were still collecting dust somewhere in government storerooms. Meanwhile, the Land Bill, which seeks to address the land questions and incorporate some of the indaba's resolutions, is hovering in the National Assembly in confusion, like many others.On 2 January 2026, Onelago headman Sam Nepando was shot and killed during a land dispute that left Iikokola headman I-Ben Nashandi injured, narrowly escaping death. The killing was branded a senseless act.Namibians returned to their cocoons, and the land question was once again pushed to the periphery.On Monday, two men, Mandume Musengua (48) and 40-year-old Maximilian Katjimune, were killed in cold blood following an alleged attack linked to a grazing land dispute at Otjase in the Okakarara area.As Uerikoravi Tjazpai eloquently puts it: "In the longer lens of history, it traces back to land dispossession, however you look at it. These are the results of a dark past wherein our people were crammed into one place while the vast, productive land was stolen by the Kaiser’s volks.”The land question can no longer be treated with kid gloves, but resolving it should be high on the agenda. Had the land question been treated with the urgency it warrants, in earnest, most related conflicts and casualties can be avoided and averted.

EDITORIAL: Land is a ticking time bomb

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-30

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EDITORIAL: Land is a ticking time bomb

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-30

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