By Mbatjiua Ngavirue With ongoing allegations of bribery in the Omaheke resettlement programme, the Regional Settlement Committee emphatically states that its hands are clean. This comes in the wake of allegations that people are paying as much as N$10ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 or with cattle, kudu and other favours to ensure their applications for resettlement are successful. A number of sources in the region allege the chief culprit in the irregularities taking place is the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement office in Gobabis. Regional Councillor for the Epukiro Constituency, Brave Tjizera, said the allegations of bribery were very serious and needed investigation. Tjizera, however, stated that government designed the process at the level of the Regional Settlement Committee in such a way that it is virtually impossible for any corruption to take place. The Settlement Committee is broadly representative, consisting of all seven Omaheke Regional Councillors and five representatives from the recognized traditional authorities in the area, being basically the Chiefs. It also includes the Regional Chief Executive officer, a Rural Water Supply representative and representatives from the Ministry of Lands in Windhoek, including the Deputy Director for Resettlement, making a total of 17 members. He stressed that the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement Office in the region is not supposed to play any part whatsoever in screening applications for resettlement. The ministry’s office is only supposed to sort the applications and summarize the contents of each application on a special form, indicating those that are incomplete or invalid. It is this process, however, that residents of the region allege creates loopholes big enough to drive a bus through. Officials at the Lands office allegedly tamper with application forms with supporting documents, such as copies of IDs and brand certificates mysteriously disappearing. The result is that many applications are unfairly ruled incomplete, or invalid. After “sorting”, the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement is then supposed to pass the applications on to the Regional Settlement Committee. Tjizera, nevertheless, emphasized that even the Regional Settlement Committee does not have the power to allocate resettlement farms – that power rests with the Land Commission in Windhoek. If, for instance, a farm of 4ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 hectares is divided into four farming units, the Settlement Committee might receive up to 400 applications for each single unit on offer. All the Committee does is draw up a shortlist of three candidates after careful consideration of each application, and then forwards the shortlist to the Land Commission. “It is a cumbersome and tiresome process, but from what I have seen it is a very transparent and democratic process,” Tjizera said. When farming units become available for resettlement, the information is made available through regional councillors, and announced through NBC radio, including the deadline for application. According to Tjizera, candidates for resettlement can submit their application forms either to regional councillors or directly to the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement office. Most applications are apparently submitted through regional councillors, who then hand them over to Lands and Resettlement. The criteria for selection, he said, is that a person must be landless and come from a communal area that is overcrowded or overgrazed. In addition, the committee takes into account issues such as disability, gender and whether the person comes from a vulnerable or disadvantaged group. One question that has raised eyebrows in the region is why people who own no livestock, no seeds and no apparent capacity to carry out farming activities are given resettlement farms. Unlike some other regions in the country, the Omaheke Region hardly lends itself to growing maize, mahangu or any other agronomic activities. What often happens is that the beneficiaries of resettlement often end up hiring out the farming units – meaning they revert into the hands of white farmers – defeating the entire purpose of resettlement. The startling disclosure made by Tjizera is that official government policy does not require successful resettlement candidates to own any livestock. As long as they meet the other criteria, they can own anything between 0-149 livestock, but if they own more then 149 they are required to apply to Agribank for the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme. According to Tjizera, the government bases this policy on the premise that, with the deed certificate they receive, the prospective farmer can then borrow money to start farming activities.