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Hai//com counting chickens before they hatch
2017-05-30Staff Report 2 Ngaevarue Katjangua Windhoek Chief of the Hai//com Traditional Authority David Khamuxab has revealed to New Era yesterday the plans the traditional authority has if government pays them the N$3.9 billion they have request as compensation for Etosha. Khamuxab said if the government were to offer them monetary compensation for the Etosha claim, they would buy farms and other immovable properties. “If we received monetary compensation for our ancestral land, we would meet with local advisors to determine what developments we can do with the money. We could look at buying farms or any other immovable properties,” noted Khamuxab. This follows the recent Hai//com’s High Court application to reclaim Etosha and the surrounding areas, which they claim is their ancestral land and has been theirs since the 1800s. The debate around ancestral land has reached new highs in recent months, with government saying such talks drags the country back to the era of homelands. In their application, the San clan claimed for years the government has failed to address the vulnerability of the Hai//com and marginalised people, alleging that their community has not been benefiting from their ancestral land, and were denied access to Etosha lands. Khamuxab stated the traditional authority has an obligation to its people, and if the government cannot offer them ownership of Etosha, then compensation of N$3.9 billion should be granted for them to fulfil these obligation. “The traditional authority has an obligation to the community, if we do receive the money as compensation for our land; we would meet with local advisors to determine what developments we can do with the money,” said the chief. The traditional leader emphasised the position of the Hai//com community in regard to Etosha and surrounding areas. “We want ownership of our ancestral land, so we can have a legal say in the developments in the area, we also want to guide the type of developments in the area,” concluded Khamuxab. 2017-05-30Staff Report 2
