The Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement says it is currently studying offers for a potential housing development to accommodate landless youth south of Windhoek.
AR leader Job Amupanda this week said one such offer is land that will accommodate 200 houses near Omeya on the B1 road to Rehoboth. Amupanda said the land has already been surveyed and all necessary town-planning approvals have been obtained. He also announced the AR building society is busy concluding a sale agreement with the owner of the land.
“What we can disclose is that this will upset the capitalist order, for we are ensuring each of the 200 individuals will get their 500-square metre plots for as little as N$20 000 compared to the N$800 000 costs of capitalists Windhoek plots of equal size,” Amupanda noted.
“This means our youth will not need banks to buy their plots. The methodologies of who will benefit, how and why will be disclosed at a later stage. We are still calling upon landowners to make offers by contacting activist George Kambala and be part of the social change that can restore the dignity of our people as far as land and housing in concerned.”
The AR leadership also announced it was following the case in which about 170 farmers, who are beneficiaries of the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme through Agribank, have been defaulting on their loans resulting in the process to repossess or auction their farms.
“Our view is that these farmers are a danger to the success of land reform. Because of their inability to make use of the loan and the land, enemies of land reform are now showing this failure as to why land reform must not go ahead. We have repeatedly written to Agribank, cautioning them against political pressure,” Amupanda said.
“We are equally aware that in this economic climate, auction of farms would mean the return of the land back into white hands as it has already happened to one of the farms.”
Amupanda has, thus, made a public appeal to the affected farmers to enter into discussion with them so that they can assist the farmers in paying their Agribank loans. He says this will be done through a methodology AR will propose to interested farmers, whereby they will give small number of hectares to youth consortiums that will in return mobilise funds for repayment of Agribank and also for agrarian purposes.
He said they have already met some of the affected farmers and discussions are underway with several others towards a collective response to the issue.
– anakale@nepc.com.na