SWAKOPMUND - Farmers who were evicted from Farm Arcadia in October last year say their eviction was baseless and unnecessary as the farm has been unoccupied for the past nine months.

Six farmers and their families, who have been farming since 1998 at farm Arcadia 1065 Unit A in the Otjozondjupa region, were evicted from the property last year. They are currently living alongside the road with their belongings. The eviction follows a court order which was granted in 2020 to resettled farmer Lazarus Katjimune.

Katjimune, who was resettled on the farm by the government in 2015, had successfully applied for the order, but died in August 2021. The farm in question measures 1 450 hectares, and is situated 60km outside Grootfontein on the road to Tsumeb in the Abenab area. The evicted farmers, some of whom are from marginalised communities, are Johannes Klazen (72), Barnabas Weyer (82), Amanda Guios (82), Theresia Goagoses (70), Gabriel Hoeseb (59) and Erenst Weyer (40).

The farmers said the farm is currently being vandalised, and a water pump has also been stolen. 

“It is sad to see a place you regarded as home for years being left to vandals. It is even sadder to see the place where our children were born being locked. We were indeed wronged when people were resettled on the farm we have lived and worked on for years,” a distraught Hoeseb said.

The group has been facing difficulties since the eviction, which also resulted in the death of an elderly farmer, Evangeline Horases (79), who got lost in the area on 18 January this year. She was found dead six days later by the police.

“Her death could have been prevented. She would still be alive if we had not been evicted. She was too old to be displaced. We are all pensioners now and have lived on this farm for years, yet people who already have farms are resettled at the expense of those who have nothing,” lamented Hoeseb.

He said the farm was lying idle before the group moved there, some even before Independence. The government then purchased the farm for resettlement purposes in 1998, and two beneficiaries, Festus Hiiho and a certain Ngeama, were resettled in 2000. “Hiiho later purchased his farm and moved, and Arcadia was allocated to Lazarus Katjimune in 2015 while we also requested to be resettled,” Hoeseb said.

He continued that they were informed to apply for the farm once it was advertised in the newspapers. They applied, but the farm was allocated to Katjimune. The group alleged that the latter was resettled despite already owning a farm in another area, and later passed away. They are now appealing to the government to intervene and allow them back onto the farm for the safety of their families.

“We cannot live alongside the road anymore. It is cold and windy. What was the point of evicting us if the farm remains unoccupied until now?” Hoeseb questioned on behalf of the group.

The land reform ministry’s spokesperson Jona Musheko told New Era yesterday that they are fully aware of the farmers’ situation, and are addressing it. 

“It’s a long process, but we have to follow procedures to avoid any issues. We have already collected data to establish how many farmers were evicted as it seems most of them either lived, worked or were born on these farms,” he said.

He added that all these factors will be considered during the resettlement process. “However, we will have to advertise the farms. In the meantime, the evicted farmers are encouraged to apply once the farms are advertised,” he appealed.

- edeklerk@nepc.com.na

(Evicted)

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