2007-06-13Staff Report 2 "By Kuvee Kangueehi Windhoek Clara Gasebewe Bohitile has provided the glimmer of hope to government's plans to bring transformation to the agricultural sector, at a time when the effectiveness of land reform and the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme is being questioned. The former deputy minister of Finance was crowned the ""Emerging Farmer of Year 2006"" by Namibia's biggest agricultural unions, namely the NNFU and NAU. She became the first recipient of the award. What makes her achievement remarkable, is that she accomplished this as a single woman in a sector largely dominated by men. Bohitile says that the achievement is no miracle, but is a result of hard work, commitment and a passion for farming. While it has become easy to judge from a distance whether a farm belongs to a white commercial farmer or black farmer, or is simply a resettlement farm, you will get it wrong if you try such a guess with Bohitile's farm. Early Farming Experience Bohitile said her interest in farming started from an early age because her parents were farmers. ""My mother was a farmer who knew a lot about farming, but she like other women in farming never got the prominence and are called rural women."" The Swapo Party MP says her education and that of her siblings was paid for by money raised from farming. She acquired her first cattle when she inherited a few from her father when he passed away, as he had many children. ""I had no interest in farming at first, but because it is not advisable to sell inherited animals the number multiplied and soon I started developing an interest."" At the time, Bohitile was farming with her elder brother at Tsjaka in the Omaheke Region and it is only when she started teaching at Shifidi High School that she really started concentrating on farming, and even started buying bulls and would spend weekends at Tsjaka. Bohitile said that when her brother bought his commercial farm and left Tsjaka, she became the head of the household as well as the farming operations. She found herself having to learn more about farming, as she realized that there was no one else she could turn to when things went wrong. As the number of animals increased, Bohitile could no longer keep them in the communal area. She then leased four camps in the Gobabis district where she kept her animals. Moving to Tennessee Bohitile bought the farm Tennessee at the beginning of 2000 after she reached the 150 head of cattle requirement by Agribank. ""After leasing the four camps, I was impressed by the way the animals were multiplying and the quality of the animals and I knew I could make it as a commercial farmer."" She narrates that the farm, which is situated in the Nina district, was unoccupied and was in a poor state. ""The facilities and infrastructure on the farm were in a state of disrepair and some were dilapidated. But that did not deter or discourage me from buying the farm. What I saw was the potential, despite my family being very worried and uncomfortable after they saw the condition of the farm. I still maintained the decision to buy Tennessee, because I saw the potential."" Another reason, which forced her to buy the farm, was that it was affordable because it was in such a poor state. She notes that her project was to improve the infrastructure such as the water-supply systems. ""Renovation was done on pipelines, boreholes, windpumps, dams and troughs to avoid water wastage and to ensure that people and animals would be comfortable drinking the water."" She farms with goats, sheep and cattle but stresses that she is not a breeder but a meat producer. Ministerial Career Bohitile says that she made her biggest contribution to Namibia during her tenure as Deputy Minister of Education and Sport. She noted that as a deputy minister she ran a project with the Lions Club and she managed to raise millions of dollars to build schools for marginalized communities. ""Without a single penny from the government, we managed to build over five primary schools, a kindergarten and houses for members of marginalized communities."" The former deputy minister said she sourced most of the funds from Germany and some of the bigger projects they built included the Blouberg Primary School in the Omaheke Region for N$1,7 million, a primary school in Tsumkwe at a cost of N$1,3 million and the Ombili Foundation where they built a kindergarten, primary school and houses for poor families. Bohitile said the marginalized communities they targeted were the San, the Ovahimba and farm labourers. ""I think it is one of my biggest achievement because through these projects, we changed the lives of so many poor people."" Early Life Bohitile was born on November 19, 1955 at the Old Location in Windhoek and her parents, being strong Catholics, baptized her at the Catholic church close to the Pionierspark cemetery. She started her kindergarten at the Old Location, before it was disrupted by the forced removal of black Namibians from the Old Location to Katutura on December 10, 1959. On that fateful day, police opened fire on a crowd of protesters, killing 12 people. After the events of December 10, 1959, the Bohitiles moved to the eastern part of the country and Clara continued her primary school at another Catholic institution, Guinighas Primary School, which is situated 15 km outside Gobabis. She then moved to another Catholic school, the St Joseph High School that is situated at Dobra farm, a few kilometres outside the capital, where she completed her secondary education. Teaching Career Upon completing high school, Bohitile was awarded a scholarship by the Catholic Church and completed a Teaching Certificate in Pretoria, South Africa. Part of the scholarship meant that she had to teach at a Catholic school and she returned to Guinichas primary school, this time as a teacher, and taught for three years. After the three years, she returned to South Africa to further her studies and specialized in English and Home Economics in Pretoria. In the mid-eighties, Bohitile started teaching at the Immanuel Shifidi High School in Katutura before she was appointed Director of Adult Education at the Council of Churches of Namibia (CCN) in 1988. After a three-year stint, Bohitile was appointed Assistant Director of Education at R??????'??" 2007-06-13Staff Report 2
