Laina Alexander

For the past years, there has been an overwhelming focus on urban development in Namibia, mainly by the main development stakeholders who hold interest in and have activities related to rural development such as the government, local and international development practitioners. This focus on urban development deemphasised the significance of rural areas in the country. Currently, just 40% of Namibia’s land is covered by government-owned communal lands, where 65% of the country’s population resides. 

Located primarily in rural areas, the communal sector covers 41% of the total land area and houses nearly 60% of the population who are dependent on it. Rural areas contribute highly to the development of the country. 

Despite this contribution, there are still development disparities that exist which disfavours rural areas (all the countryside other than the municipalities and townships proclaimed by the government) where there are limited livelihood options and there is a lack of infrastructure and social amenities. 

Since gaining its independence, Namibia has made significant efforts to encourage rural development (actions which aim at improving rural people’s living conditions by providing basic social and economic services and by creating a political, legal, economic and social environment which empower them to take charge of their own development). 

Despite the continuous efforts of all stakeholders and advancement in many spheres, there are still major issues that need to be addressed. The improvements in rural residents’ livelihoods have occurred against the background of a forceful colonisation. 

The colonial conflicts caused a significant portion of the inhabitants in the country’s centre and south to perish or be driven to the north or east. The period of apartheid that followed brought additional segregation, oppression, and marginalization of the black and coloured populations.

Many government organizations, including the Cabinet Standing Committees, the National Planning Commission (NPC), the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), and line ministries, have significant interests in rural development. However, in their roles as regulators, enablers, monitors or service providers, they are faced with challenges. Critical flaws in the current institutional structure as well as in the frameworks for cross-sectoral information sharing and collaboration have been revealed by the situational analysis conducted for the strategic plan for the National Rural Development Strategy 2013/14 - 2017/18. 

A portion of the regional organizations are understaffed because of the slow decentralisation of important rural development activities to regional councils, including rural water supply and sanitation, natural resources, and land management. Another critical issue that has been identified in the analysis is the almost total absence of sector-specific consultations and horizontal and vertical cooperation. 

In the absence of rural planning, what happens? 

Many obstacles, such as a lack of business skills, a lack of technical skills, great distances to services, inadequate access to markets, and a lack of access to financial institutions, hinder rural firms and rural manufacturing. Various business environment assessments have shown these shortcomings and a generally unfavourable business environment in rural locations. Another significant obstacle to the growth of businesses is access to land.

Leases in settlements are only issued for up to 20 years, and the settlement administrations are a part of the regional council administration, declared villages and towns have autonomous administrations. Where residents are given either freehold (outright ownership of their land) or a lease of land (an arrangement in which a landowner, the lessor, in legal terminology rents out the land to a tenant, or the lessee) for 30 years or longer. 

Since settlement administrations do not have their own sources of income, they are unable to borrow money and cannot utilize settlement land as collateral or as an investment. As a result, it is challenging for enterprises to grow, and settlements are unable to finance their own infrastructure and are instead permanently dependent on limited government funding.

How can rural planning be engaged or improved in Namibia?

Based on the above-mentioned challenges, these are some of the approaches that can be adopted to promote and ensure effective rural development:

Adopting a development strategy that values mixed income working environments and encourages inter-industrial partnerships by fully using local resources, industries, human resources, cultures, and networks. 

Participatory planning, when communities are involved in development projects, they are most likely to give priority to the project and it gives them an opportunity to hold implementing agencies accountable. This process also allows for communities to state their development needs in order of priority.

Integration and coordination among line ministries to ensure successful implementation of projects.

 Capacity building at regional and local level, these are offices that are closer to the people hence it is important that they are well educated and informed on how to deal with rural challenges as well as identifying development opportunities within their areas of jurisdiction.

It is time to stop treating urban and rural areas in Namibia as if they can coexist in isolation, as this is not possible. The government must invest as much effort in developing rural areas as they do in urban areas. The majority of Namibia’s population currently resides in urban areas, placing strain on local government in terms of service delivery and the resources available in urban areas. Improving and prioritizing rural areas is one way to solve issues such as poverty and unemployment as well as coping with the high rate of rural-urban migration in the country.

*Laina Alexander is a Research Assistant (Land Administration) in the Department of Land and Property Sciences (DLPS) at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). The views expressed in this article are entirely hers, and not that of NUST