2018-07-20Staff Report 2 Eveline de Klerk SWAKOPMUND - The Namibian government acquired 524 farms measuring a collective 3.2 million hectares since independence. Government however wants to acquire five million hectares by 2020 under the national resettlement programme. This is according to the director of land reform, Peter Nangolo, who presented the concept paper of the Ministry of Land Reform regarding the upcoming second national land conference slated for October. More than 300 residents and traditional and local authority stakeholders attended a two-day stakeholders conference, hosted by the Erongo Regional Council, for the region to provide input into the much-awaited second land conference. Nangolo said the government spent N$776 million in total on 648 loans under the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme. “A total of 3.4 million hectares of land was acquired under the same programme. Since independence, 5338 families have been resettled under the programme,” he said. Apart from that, he said, the government has since the enactment of the Communal Land Reform Act allocated 118,885 communal rights in communal areas across the country. He attributed the slow pace of land acquisition to land scarcity, adding that inadequate financial resources to acquire land remain a bottleneck in the attainment of land reform objectives. On urban land reform, he said, in recent years the affordability of both land and residential properties in urban areas has been highlighted as a serious challenge, especially among the youth. “This matter requires attention at the national land conference as it was not adequately discussed during the 1991 conference. The issue of land reform should be addressed for availability and affordability under various categories of land uses,” he said. Hence, he said that despite notable and quantified results on the land reform programme by government, more work remains in terms of addressing and overcoming such challenges as encountered during the land reform and resettlement process. “Government and its people have acknowledged the challenges regarding land reform in the country. Many have advocated that the second national land conference review and deliberate on land-related matters and adopt measures to accelerate land reform,” Nangolo said. •••• Caption Steady progress… Since independence, 5338 families have been resettled on land acquired by the government. Photo: Nampa 2018-07-20Staff Report 2
