WINDHOEK – Founding Father Sam Nujoma yesterday joined the chorus of discontent when he spoke out strongly against the vast disparities engulfing land ownership.   

Nujoma, speaking at the opening of the Second National Land Conference, said it’s with dismay that he has learned that 70 percent of the land is still owned by white Namibians.

He said the current trend on land ownership should no longer be allowed to continue unabated by the current generation.
“We need, as Namibians, to unite and work together and adopt a severe, comprehensive as well as sustainable agrarian land reform in order to address the massive imbalance of land ownership in Namibia,” said the liberation struggle icon.
He said the first step should therefore be to start with a review of some constitutional provisions in order to address land ownership in the country.

“For this reason, the constitution of the Republic of Namibia needs to be amended through a referendum. It is only though this way that the state can own the entire land in the country including the agricultural commercial land,” he said.
Nujoma says he strongly believes that land belongs to the state and no foreigners should be allowed to own commercial farmland in Namibia.

“This is what we agreed upon in the first National Land Conference and that mechanisms should be put in place to speed up expropriation without compensation of land belonging to absentee landlords,” he said. 

Speaking on the ancestral land claims, Nujoma said the first National Land Conference resolved that given the difficulties in redressing ancestral land claims, restitution of such claims in full is impossible.

Therefore, he said, he also agrees that the issue of ancestral land claims should not be entertained.
“As Namibians,” he said, “we fought for total emancipation of our country and territorial integrity. Namibia is a unitary state and every Namibian citizen is allowed to resettle anywhere in the country as provided for by our country’s constitution.”

Nujoma said those who are concerned that the Land Reform Programme to be discussed at the Second National Land Conference will result in white farmers being stripped of land to the detriment of the economy, should be assured there is no truth to this claim and it should be rejected as any change in this regard will not compromise the food security and economic growth in the country.

“I should again emphasise here that land must belong to the state to be administered by government in accordance with the country’s needs,” he said.