By Mbatjiua Ngavirue WHILE some resettled farmers only suspect that they have not received their full land allocation, 72-year-old Orpa Murangi knows for a fact she was cheated. The Land Commission allocated Murangi Unit C of the 5ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 022-hectare farm Verlang in the Witvlei District, measuring 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 364 hectares. When officials first took her to see her unit in 2002, they told her the unit consisted of seven separate camps. Murangi, however, says they explained to her that they would initially only allow her to occupy three of her camps because they still had to demarcate the other four camps. Today, five years later, the Ministry of Lands has still not given her the other four camps they promised her. In the meantime, she faces a disastrous situation on the farm with her cattle having become so weak through lack of grazing that they have to lift them up onto their legs. Murangi argues that, although she has around 100 cattle, she should have had far more after five years of farming, but they do not increase because they are dying like flies. She moved to Verlang before any of the other resettled farmers because conditions in the communal area where she lived were even worse. When they arrived at Verlang, however, they found the farm ravaged by veldfire, with all the poles and droppers burnt to ashes and the fences down. Murangi says she has complained to the Ministry of Lands’ official in Gobabis, Erastus Nghishoono, on at least five separate occasions. “Just be patient. Go and wait, and don’t keep bothering me all the time, grandma,” Nghishoono allegedly told her. Frustrated with Nghishoono’s attitude, she finally decided to travel to Windhoek to go and see someone at the head office of the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement. In Windhoek, ministry official, Bornbright Muleke, made sympathetic noises, saying it was a shame Murangi had waited five years without receiving her four other camps. Muleke told her the ministry could not do anything at the time because it had exhausted its S&T budget, and would have to wait until the passing of the national budget. There are a few clues to explain why Orpa Murangi has not yet received the additional four camps she is entitled to. It seems to boil down to the fact that there is no one at the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement that can do simple arithmetic. The advertisement published in local newspapers in March 2002 announcing the allocation of resettlement farms is riddled with incorrect calculations. The beneficiaries on the farm Verlang are given as Gerson Hoaeb 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 219 ha; Theofilius Goagoseb 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 219 ha; Pederius Tjihoreko 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 188 ha; Orpa Murangi 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 364 ha; Anna Nangolo 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 251 ha; Andries Swaartbooi 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 251 ha; and Appolinia Aies 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 251 ha. The sub-total for the number of beneficiaries is given as eight people, when in fact only seven people are named on the list. The probability is that the eighth person was mistakenly not mentioned in the list, but later needed to be accommodated by giving her Murangi’s four camps. The ministry gives the sub-total of hectares earmarked for all seven beneficiaries as 5ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 022 hectares. The real sub-total of the figures given above, however, is 8,743 hectares. The only problem is that, according to the Deeds Certificate at the Registrar of Deeds, the actual size of Verlang is 5,053 hectares. How the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement planned to fit 8ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 743 hectares onto a 5ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 053-ha farm is beyond understanding. That would be a feat comparable to the Lord Jesus feeding the hungry horde of 5ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. However, as far as people know, the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement does not possess miraculous powers. The same applies to the farm Schonborn (Schoenborn) where the sub-total of the number of hectares given to the nine beneficiaries is 7ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 267. When the figures are correctly added up, the sub-total comes to 10ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 772 ha, but according to the Deeds Office, the size of the farm is 7ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 250 ha. Murangi also complains that the one water reservoir on her farming unit is too small, while the other one is old and is always leaking. The pipeline is also old and constantly leaking, meaning they constantly have to repair it. The Ministry of Lands promised all resettled farmers in their lease agreements that they would find a fully-functioning water reticulation system on their farming units, but this seldom appears to be the case. The Land Commission also resettled the eminence grise to Omaheke Governor Laura McLeod, Pederius Tjihoreko, on Verlang. He received all his seven camps, and it is doubtful he lacks anything in terms of usable reservoirs or pipelines.