Six famers and their families, who have been farming since 1998 at farm Arcadia 1065 Unit A in the Otjozondjupa region, found themselves evicted from the property yesterday and dumped near the road with their belongings.
The eviction follows a court order that was granted in 2020 to resettled farmer Lazarus Katjimune.
Katjimune, who was resettled on the farm by the government in 2015, had successfully applied for the order but died last year in August. The farm in question measures 1 450 hectares and is situated 60km outside Grootfontein on the road to Tsumeb in the Abenab area. The evicted farmers, of which some are from the marginalised community, are Johannes Klazen (72), Barnabas Weyer (82), Amanda Guios (82) Theresia Goagoses (70) and Gabriel Hoeseb (59) and Erenst Weyer (40).
According to them, the farm was lying idle before they moved there, some even before independence, while others worked on the property for the initial owner. “They came with lorries, broke down our homes, loaded our belongings and discarded them along the road as if we were nothing,” an emotional Goagoses told New Era yesterday.
Goagoses said their animals are still on the farm and do not know what will happen to them.
Klazen said he previously worked on the farm and continued to live on after the initial farm owner died.
“I have been on this farm for over 40 years and I am part of the group that on numerous occasions appealed to the government for resettlement,” he claimed.
He denied that he settled illegally on the land, saying he had been on the farm before independence. According to him, the affected farmers settled on the farm due to drought. “They found us here, we did not steal from anyone or illegally occupy a farm,” Klazen said. A disappointed Klazen further said government sidelined them at least twice and resettled farmers who already had access to land elsewhere.
Documents seen by New Era indicated the group of pensioners started applying and appealing for resettlement opportunities from the authorities.
According to Hoeseb, the government purchased the farm for resettlement purposes in 1998 and two beneficiaries, Festus Hiiho and a certain Ngeama were resettled in 2000, despite their request for resettlement. “Hiiho was first resettled, after him, the unit was allocated to Katjimune in 2015 while we also requested to be resettled,” Hoeseb said. “We are all pensioners now and have lived on this farm for years, yet people who already have farms are resettled at the expense of those who have nothing,” a saddened Hoeseb added. A document sent to Hoeseb by the then director of resettlement shows that the government was aware that Hiiho was in possession of a farm and that the government was in the process of evicting him. “We would like to encourage your community group to keep applying for resettlement on prescribed forms whenever farms are advertised. Further, be informed that the ministry is in the process of evicting Hiiho and his family from farm Arcadia. This unit will be advertised soon and you will be free to apply for that too, if interested,” a land reform ministry director wrote on 13 September 2011. Katjimune’s widow, Asnath, last week told New Era she is currently farming on her late husband’s farm in the Ovitoto area of Otjozondjupa region. “I was farming on Arcadia with my husband before he fell ill. There were a lot of farmers during that time on our resettlement farm and we on numerous occasions requested the police to evict them, but they are still there,” she said last week days before the eviction was carried out. According to Asnath, she also requested to be rather resettled elsewhere as Arcadia was too crowded.
First in line
She and Katjimune’s children are currently first in line to be considered for inheriting the leasehold of Farm Arcadia. Spokesperson for the ministry Jona Musheko yesterday told New Era they are aware of the farmers’ predicament, but pointed out the Arcadia unit was allocated to Katjimune in December 2015. “The ministry is aware of the passing of Katjimune and his family has been informed of the inheritance process but no application for inheritance has been received yet. The eviction of the farmers was in fact initiated by Katjimune himself before he passed away,” Musheko explained. According to him, the ministry advised the evicted community to move to the Farm Juliana where there is a farming unit allocated to them, together with other marginalised community members. “Section 53 of the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act, 1995 (Act No 6 of 1995) states that: If a lease dies, the executor of the lessee’s estate may assign the lease to any person who is approved in writing by the minister on the recommendation of the Land Reform Advisory Commission,” he said. Landless People’s Movement leader Sebeteus !Guiteb, who visited the evicted farmers yesterday, said he is concerned about their health and safety as they were dumped next to the road. “These are elderly people with health issues. The closest farm for water is 17 kilometres away. The rain is also posing a risk to them. Government has really failed our elders. They were supposed to be resettled on farm Arcadia, but they were dumped along the road as if they are not Namibians,” he said.
sklukowski@nepc.com.na