The Affirmative Repositioning Movement’s chief activist, Job Amupanda, has urged members of parliament to do something useful for their people by passing a bill prohibiting foreign nationals from owning land in Namibia.

Amupanda made this plea on Tuesday when he and his delegation met members of the parliamentary standing committee on natural resources at the National Assembly. 

“Who will remember 100 of you (MPs) who have done something significant in dealing with this problem of foreigners owning our land?” Amupanda asked. 

The meeting was to address the 2019 AR petition to the Speaker of the National Assembly Peter Katjavivi, calling for quick laws to control the right of non-Namibian citizens to own property.

The proposed bill seeks to regulate foreigners’ right to acquire property in Namibia, and would “reaffirm and give power, control and ownership of the land in Namibia to the people of Namibia”.

“Land will never increase; land will continue to decrease... “And if we don’t stop it, we won’t have any left,” Amupanda said, adding that the Namibian Constitution empowers parliament to “prohibit or control the right to acquire property by persons who are not Namibian citizens as it deems appropriate”.

According to statistics provided by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), citing the Namibian Agricultural Union (NAU) (2016) database, a total of 250 farms and farm portions, covering 1 206 017 hectares is owned by foreign nationals.

Of these farms, 639 667 hectares (53%) is owned by German nationals, followed by South Africans with 353 875 hectares (29.3%) and Americans with 82 024 hectares (6.8%). 

On their part, the majority of MPs welcomed the petition, saying it is of national importance and that more time is needed to analyse it.

Deputy chairperson of the committee, Agnes Kafula said the struggle for independence was indeed about land, and that if this is not respected, it would be pointless to have fought.

“Our intention is to gather all relevant information, produce a report and table it in the National Assembly during this year,” Kafula told AR leadership.

Speaking at the same occasion, Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) MP Mike Kavekotora, who was impressed by the petition, said more time was needed to discuss the petition because it is of national interest. - ktjitemisa@nepc.com.na