Lahja Nashuuta
The land reform ministry acquired two commercial farms to be converted into communal land for the /Khomanin community, land reform minister Calle Schlettwein has announced.
The farms are in the Khomas region, which is said to be the /Khomanin’s ancestral land.
Schlettwein made the revelation while addressing Parliament on Wednesday.
He said government procured Groot Korasieplaats Farm No 440, located 140 km northeast of Windhoek, for N$33.9 million for the resettlement of the
/Khomanin community.
While motivating the decision, Schlettwein confessed the /Khomanin community, who are known to have been the first settlers in the region
in the 1880s, is currently living on farms as generational farm-workers, while those who are not employed live at the mercy of the landowners.
“Our conscious decision is to
respond to the plea of the /Khomanin traditional community. This community is still displaced on farms situated in different directions of the Khomas
region because they don’t have communal land. They lived on farms as generational farm-workers,
Thus, after a lengthy consultation, we arrived at this decision… to establish communal land for this community,” he said.
Once communal land is established, the Khomas Communal Land Board will administer all land allocations and cancellations on the said communal land.
Schlettwein said the board will be responsible for exercising control over the allocation and cancellation of customary land rights by chiefs or traditional
authorities, to consider and decide on applications for a right of leasehold, and to establish and maintain a register and a system of registration for recording the allocation, transfer and cancellation of customary land rights and rights of leasehold as prescribed by law.
“I would like to underscore here that the traditional authorities will play a huge role in primary land allocation as the primary allocator, and provide consent letters to each and every allocation. Just like in other regions, the Communal Land Board will exercise control over allocations and cancellations made by traditional authorities,” continued the minister.
Mixed emotions
Reacting to the news, head of the /Khomanin technical committee, social justice activist and presidential hopeful Rosa Namises described the government’s promises to establish communal land for the /Khomanin community as “old wine in a new bottle”.
“That’s not news to the /Khomanin community. We were promised the said farm five years ago at various meetings held between the community and government. Perhaps the news about this issue is the fact that the government has made it public, and will now be able to be held accountable by various stakeholders,” an unimpressed Namises said. She, however, welcomed the fact that a board was spearheading the
land allocation and administration of land rights.
“It is a good idea that there will be a board that includes the /Khomanin community to establish the resettlement process, and ensure that justice is done to the targeted community,” she said.
Meanwhile, the /Khomanin Landless Movement’s spokesperson Shaun Gariseb,said the minister’s announcement is a sign of hope for his community.
Gariseb, however, said the 800 hectares are not sufficient to accommodate the thousands of landless /Khomanin.
Targets
According to the 2023-2033 national resettlement policy, under the national resettlement process, the government
targets the acquisition and distribution of five million hectares of commercial agricultural land by 2030.
So far, only 513 commercial farms totalling 3.1 million hectares of land have been acquired and allocated to over 5 300 beneficiaries since independence.
While figures of landless Namibians in need of resettlement are unavailable, the policy estimates that a total of 243 000 Namibians need land.
During the 2023-2024 financial year, the land reform ministry acquired seven farms for resettlement purposes.
With a combined size of 33 822 hectares, the farms cost the government N$91.4 million.
Meanwhile, for the current financial year, N$270.4 million is earmarked for land reform and resettlement.