OUTJO – Minister of Lands and Resettlement, Alfeus !Naruseb, has condemned theft and other unbecoming behaviour among many young people in farming communities across the nation.
“It is a societal phenomenon when you have a group of youth, able-bodied youth with no water. When they are idle they end up in mischief, brewing beer or growing dagga (marijuana) and eventually become problems for the communities they live in,” said !Naruseb during the launch of the Queen Sofia and Kunene for Christ Development (KfC) projects in the Kunene Region last week. KfC is a charity programme under the auspices of the Dutch Reformed Church in Namibia and focuses on helping communities in the Kunene Region.
!Naruseb was especially displeased over news that private farmers adjacent to the Queen Sofia resettlement farm are constantly under threat of game poaching on their farms, as well as stock theft by idle individuals from the Queen Sofia resettlement farm. “It is therefore of cardinal importance that Kunene for Christ get involved, but we have so many other Queen Sofia’s where this is prevalent. We must ask ourselves what are the root causes? As leaders of our communities, we are able to remedy this and to alleviate the idleness. I can easily say looting is the responsibility of the Ministry of Safety and Security and that my forte is to give you land, but I as a national leader cannot isolate myself. No! We can go a long way to change the moral behaviour of our people if we get involved,” he said.
The project is an arrangement between the government and KfC, through which the KfC would empower residents of the Queen Sofia resettlement farm and equip them with management and various other skills that will enable them to farm commercially. The Queen Sofia resettlement farm is comprised of five units – Tsumis, Dwight, Nimtz, Elf and Micheal. KfC will be soliciting technical skills from volunteers, including volunteers from as far as Germany to work on improving water infrastructure on the farms.
Queen Sofia is one of the number of farms donated by the late Carl List of the Ohlthaver and List Group to the government in 1998. The farm was named Queen Sofia in honour of Queen Sofia of Spain after the Spanish government pledged funds towards project activities, the construction of a school and houses as well as the donation of livestock for the beneficiaries. Fifty formerly disadvantaged families, including farm labourers, demobilized ex-combatants and other landless people were resettled at Queen Sofia. Each family has been provided with a house and garden space. A primary school has since been built, while health workers were stationed on the farm by the Ministry of Health and Social Services providing easy access to medical services for residents.
“Farming is hard work, very hard work. It demands so much physical strength and material inputs and requires that you are up by five. You should be able to accomplish so much before the sun is up. Most importantly, respect yourself as individuals and do on your piece of land that which you have observed other successful farmers do on their land,” said !Naruseb.
The Governor of the Kunene Region Joshua //Hoebeb told the residents of Queen Sofia that a community that is not disciplined will very soon die out. “This is the time to build and not to break up. I have noticed that in most cases when citizens move into government houses the competition starts to see which one will break down the house faster. Keep and make beautiful the things you have received. To take care of God’s creations is the best way to serve God. If anyone thinks coming to Queen Sofia is to sit around and chase the sun around the house then this is not the right place for you,” said //Hoebeb.
The coordinator of the KfC group, Reverend Jakob Schoeman, called on the government to sponsor a student to study the Queen Sofia situation for a doctoral thesis. Such a study can be used as a guiding tool during the resettlement process, he believes. He explained that his group’s responsibility over the next five years will be to determine which areas on the farm are in need of development and which are the strong areas. Schoeman, however, said that should this initiative fail it would be important for individuals, including the work groups to be honest about why it failed and not to continue to blame government for what has gone wrong.
KfC operates throughout the Kunene Region and is now in the process of rebuilding an old theology school in Angola, facilitating food projects, as well as providing career guidance to students in the region. To date the outfit has seen to it that 27 students in the region are accepted at tertiary education institutions, as well as empowering mothers in the region to prepare their own children to be ready for school.
By Jemima Beukes