Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein this week again explained the two farms offered to the State by Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and her husband Onesmus Amadhila.
The properties in question – Farm Duwib No.1 14, measuring 5 008 hectares, and portion 1, called Agenab, measuring 2 750 hectares, of Farm Goab No. 760 – were registered under a company called Seize The Moment Investment Fifty Six Corporation, in which the prime minister and her husband are shareholders.
His latest clarification follows hot on the heels of threats by the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), who last week threatened to approach the High Court with the matter.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has in recent weeks come under heavy criticism after it was alleged she and her husband made a profit of N$3 million from the sale of the two farms to government.
Earlier this month, Schlettwein explained in parliament how his ministry approved the sale of two farms from a company owned by Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and her husband for more than N$14 million, having bought the two farms for about N$5.5 million in 2011.
The land reform ministry last year bought two farms in the Otjozondjupa region from a company owned by the prime minister and her husband.
Schlettwein in the statement said his ministry has no record of KH Friederich’s letter of 5 February 2007 circulating in the media that the LPM is planning to use as evidence in the High Court.
He, however, stated that his ministry indeed has records of Karl-Heinz Friederich offering his farm, Farm Duwib No. 1149, to the state on the prescribed form.
He also stated that an open waiver was issued on 13 April 2011 upon the recommendation of the Land Reform Advisory Commission (Resolution No 10 of March 2011) but that the records also show a deed of sale between Friederich (seller) and Nicolaas Grundeling (buyer), who was leasing the farm at the time, dated 20 December 2010.
Schlettwein earlier this month at a press conference explained the market value of the two farms, Duwib No. 1 149, measuring about 5 000 hectares and portion 1 (Agenab) of Farm Goab No. 760, measuring 2 750 hectares, was determined through the sales comparison approach, using 13 recently sold farms and in close proximity of the two farms to determine the market value of the farms.
He further explained that during the 2020/21 period, the ministry purchased 10 farms with prices per hectare, varying from N$1 713 to N$ 3 050.