WINDHOEK – The land crisis in Namibia is one of the crucial issues mentioned in the manifestos of political parties that will contest the elections in November.
Namibians will go to the polls on November 28 to elect a new president and 96 parliamentarians for the National Assembly to be sworn in in 2015.
While there are different approaches on how land should be distributed, most parties are in unison the land reform and resettlement process is too slow.
New Era reviewed a couple of manifestos to see where they stand on the land issue.
Nudo
Nudo says Namibia has not addressed the land issue satisfactorily and ancestral land claims were never discussed or rather factored into the resettlement programme.
It says the programme resettles unproductive farmers who have little capacity to add to the economy of the country.
It says the only solution is to nationalize the land and give it back to its original owners.
“The issue of lodges and game farms will be the first to go and game will be managed in conservancies by the African masses themselves,” reads Nudo’s manifesto.
It would like to see a restoration programme for those communities who lost land previously under colonial rule.
A Nudo government would widen the resettlement programme to include those in need of land for agricultural purposes, and urban land resettlement schemes for low-income groups residing in urban areas.
“Tax incentives will be introduced to those who are able to utilise land to their full potential. This is contrary to the Swapo government who penalise those making effective use of land by creating tax burdens,” its manifesto further states.
Furthermore, the opposition says that it will engage the German government to avail resources to survey and demarcate small-scale commercial farming units in communal areas and fund communal land development by availing affordable loans and grants to communal farmers.
“A Nudo government believes that without equitable redistribution of land resources, there will never be genuine economic freedom, which is necessary if all our social welfare objectives are to be delivered in our lifetime,” adding that it would abolish all forms of foreign land ownership.
It promised to institute a land lease system for foreign investors and companies to use the land for sustainable economic activities.
Swapo
The ruling Swapo Party says it will continue to redistribute land according to the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle.
It says it will continue to review and consolidate the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act, Act 6 of 1995 and the Communal Land Reform Act, Act 5 of 2002, to amalgamate it into one piece of land legislation.
“The Swapo Party government will acquire 417 000 hectares of land each year for the next six years until 2020 for it to reach the 2.5 million hectares of land under the National Resettlement Programme,” states the ruling party’s political manifesto.
The party says to date, 128 142 customary land rights were verified and mapped and 16 000 hectares of land is now under development focusing mainly on tenure security and development of infrastructure.
Swapo further intends to acquire 15 million hectares of farmland by 2020.
“During the past 24 years, the Swapo Party government acquired and redistributed almost 2.5 million hectares of commercial agricultural land to about 5 700 formally disadvantaged Namibians,” Swapo states.
Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF)
The newly formed Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) says it will pass legislation to take all land into the custodianship of the State if it were elected to power.
By so doing, the party says the State would then equally distribute land to Namibians to “ensure defeat of apartheid colonial distribution which has continued for 24 years.”
NEFF will also abolish all forms of foreign land ownership and help small-scale agriculture by increasing State consumption of locally produced food and agricultural products.
The party says fair compensation and relocation incentives would be given to those relocated somewhere else when land is taken over by State for sustainable development.
Swanu
Swanu says the current process of land reform and resettlement does not create more equitable agrarian situations but merely creates unequal distribution in new areas.
The party is of the opinion land reform has been too slow, taking into account that the government targeted to acquire 15 million hectares of land, but only 4 million hectares have been obtained so far.
Its solution is to offer tenders to deserving Namibian companies to construct low-income high-rise flats for the country’s urban poor, free erven for the poor, soft loans for housing and to oblige businesses to build houses for employees.
Beyond housing, the party says it will nationalize all land into State hands, return communities to their ancenstral land, have commercial farms rented from the State and not privately owned, abolish willing buyer, willing seller and stop government from buying land that “was never bought in the first place.”
Swanu says if it were voted into power, it would amend the Constitution to outlaw privatization of land and expropriate foreign-owned land.
Republican Party (RP)
In contrast to many other political parties’ stances, the RP wants to see that the policy of will buyer/willing seller is respected and that farmers with excessive land sell portions of it to government.
RP says it compiled a feasible and sustainable Land Reform Policy through public consultation with stakeholders, including farm workers who are being evicted from farms acquired by government.
If elected to power, the party says it would ensure a land strategy that is consistent with provisions of the Namibian Constitution and would ensure the Land Reform Policy will contribute to alleviating poverty and not aggravate it.
The RP would also like to see a development programme through which government can provide the necessary technical assistance and training for beginner farmers in cooperation with agricultural unions and their respective farmers’ unions.
Among other things, the party would encourage government financial support to beginner farmers who do not have enough livestock and convince government that farms acquired for resettlement be used for beginner farmers to use it optimally.