This opinion piece holds that communal farming and maintaining cattle posts in communal areas, if done within the realm of relevant laws and customary norms, may potentially enhance rural livelihoods and reduce poverty in Namibia. 

Rural people derive and sustain livelihoods from communal land and commonage areas, thus communal land tenure is non-negotiable. It is a constitutional right of all citizens. Namibia is a unitary state as provided in Article 1 (1) of the Constitution: “The Republic of Namibia is established as a sovereign, secular, democratic and unitary state founded on the principles of democracy, the rule of law and justice for all”. 

In realising this, Parliament enacted the Communal Land Reform Act (CLRA) 5 of 2002 “to provide for the allocation of rights in respect of communal land to establish Communal Land Boards, to provide for the powers of chiefs and traditional authorities and boards about communal land and to make provisions for incidental matters”. Section 17 of the Communal Land Reform Act makes it clear that “subject to the provisions of CLRA, all communal land vest in the State in trust for the benefit of the traditional communities residing in those areas and to promote the economic and social development of the people of Namibia, in particular, the landless and those with insufficient access to land, who are not in formal employment or engaged in non-agriculture business activities”. 

This provision calls for efficient governance in allocating communal land and commonage areas for the benefit, usage, and sustainability of present and future generations. The question is whether the CLRA beneficially impacts the lives of communal people, or produces unintended consequences. The history of land ownership in Namibia and the subsequent socio-economic development in rural areas has constrained land accessibility, defeating the primary intention of the liberation struggle. Besides, the introduction and expansion of towns, village councils, and settlements has added anxiety and pushed rural people and livestock out of their natural habitats. Relocated people now live in harsh environments with reduced livelihoods, and not enough spaces for subsistence agriculture, let alone livestock grazing. The practice has contributed to agonizing ordeals in communal agriculture and cattle-post sustainability. Where pastures are available in rural areas, water is a scarce commodity for human and livestock consumption. Similarly, where water is accessible animal grazing is a challenge because those areas are either fenced off or within local authority boundaries. Whereas Article 16 (1) states that “all persons have the right in any part of Namibia to acquire, own and dispose of all forms of immovable and movable property individually or in association with others and to bequeath their property to their heirs or legatees; provided Parliament may, by legislation, prohibit or regulate as it deems expedient, the right to acquire property by persons who are not Namibian citizens”, many rural people cannot exercise this right because large hectares of communal land have been fenced off by a small group of affluent communal farmers. 

This makes it impractical for the poor to access land and earn a living. Therefore, this article maintains that communal farming and cattle posts in rural Namibia need urgent but humane intervention and direction to circumvent future confrontation, animosity, and distress among communities, which can disrupt peace and security in the country. For rural communities, communal agriculture and cattle posts are bread-and-butter issues without which the notion of rural livelihoods is irrelevant. So, unfair communal land allocations, and prioritising urban development that encroaches on people’s livelihoods has contributed to poverty and starvation. Unfortunately, the land is neither a renewable resource nor be multiplied to accommodate the ever-growing rural population. Put differently, land is a “finite resource”, once mismanaged it is over. An efficient policy approach is required to address the uncertain future of subsistence farming in rural Namibia. This article recognizes the existing government policy strategy to regulate the administration and allocations of communal land, however, the situation on the ground depicts a gloomy picture. 

Pieces of land allocated to rural poor are very small and the right to commonage areas is limited. Worst of all, the soil becomes infertile due to over-use and overgrazing. While town expansion drives rural people away, the situation is equally aggravated by some traditional leaders misusing customary powers by allocating any available piece of communal land on a whim irrespective of whether such area is commonage or not, thereby contravening Section 29(4) of the Communal Land Reform Act, with impunity, an exercise that proves difficult to reverse. Therefore, traditional leaders should renounce the allocation of rural commonage areas. Inconsiderate allocation of communal land affects subsistence agriculture and animal grazing, resulting in poverty, since livestock are gradually diminishing. Affluent people use their influence to grab huge tracts of land with no benevolence, leaving the poor to cluster in whatever remains. Mendelsohn, Shixwameni, and Nakamhela observed that “communal land is also free for people who are not poor, and many wealthy people have used their influence to acquire large [communal] farms”. In their view, this sort of “privatisation of commonage has and continues to be rampant, often fittingly described as a modern land grab. As a consequence, the customary value of commonage being a free-range resource for residents has been eroded in many areas where communal land no longer provides a safety net for the poor”. To date, the situation has not improved. Rural people endure communal land deprivation due to fencing-off, “land grabbing” by the affluent and town expansions. 

The efficiency and accountability in communal land governance promote socio-economic benefits and support rural livelihoods. Contrary, “lack of capacity” continues to disorientate communal land governance. There is a need for a moratorium on town and village council proclamations and town boundary expansion in rural Namibia. 

Establishing more local authorities in rural areas is not benefiting the poor. It displaces them and contributes to rural-urban migration. Similarly, the customary method of land allocation needs to be reconsidered and properly regulated. The state should adopt an inclusive position on communal land governance. The government should reassess the policy on communal land compensation for residents whose homesteads are within the town’s boundaries. A market-related compensation should be introduced. The relevant provisions of the Local Authorities Act 22, and the Communal Land Reform Act need amendment. The government should assume an active “developmental state approach” toward communal land and cattle posts to deliver food security and reduce rural poverty. Addressing “Red line zones” may also help resolve communal land and cattle post issues.

*Tuhafeni Helao (PhD) is a retired academic. Areas of interest are politics, governance, comparative governance, public service delivery, and policing.