By Mbatjiua Ngavirue WINDHOEK The complaint that well-connected and more powerful neighbours have cheated them out of part of their land, is a recurring theme in Namibia’s Land Resettlement Programme. Five years after the Government resettled them on part of the 7ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 200-hectare farm Schonborn, the Katamelo family are still not sure whether or not they in fact received their full allocation of land. Government resettled nine households on the farm, with Anna Katamelo given Unit C of Schonborn – measuring 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 055 hectares. They, however, complain that no surveyor has ever been to the farm to officially demarcate the different units, forcing them to rely on whatever Ministry of Lands official, Erastus Nghishoono, tells them. To farmers in the resettlement programme, Erastus Nghishoono is a demigod, who figuratively holds the power of life and death over them. Their feelings towards him appear to alternate between awe and outright fear. It raises important questions about how healthy it is for Namibia to give one single man such absolute – and unchecked – powers over so many people in a huge area of the country. People know better than to get on the wrong side of Nghishoono, or any government official for the matter. “Will people not say we are going against our Government?” Anna Katamelo asked with obvious worry on her face. The Katamelos finally worked up the courage to speak out and openly say they feel the division of the farm was not fair, either with regard to size of units or quality of land. The Katamelos feel a disproportionate amount of their land consists of barren riverbed with only steekgras and water-reeds that cattle do not eat. “We even wrote to Frans Tsheehama to complain they just gave us riverbed and camps full of nothing but large rocks,” they said. To make matters worse, Nghishoono came one day and seemingly arbitrarily decided they must give the slightly better part of their riverbed camp – measuring 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ km long and 100 metres wide – to Amwaalwa. Similarly, he also allegedly came and ordered them to give a huge chunk of their best camp to another neighbour, Thobias “Shikongo” Hango. Despite these problems, the Katamelos are grateful for the land, and the opportunity the Namibian Government has given them. “We are making progress with our farming, but the camps need to be divided fairly. The surveyors must come and demarcate the camps properly,” they pleaded. Frans Katamelo was asked whether he was happy about the Government allocating the farming unit to his wife, and not jointly to both of them as a married couple. His wife, Anna, decided she could better answer that question for him, saying, “Oh, he is perfectly happy with that.” “I am not happy about it,” husband Frans grumbled good-naturedly, “but what can you do? It’s the Namibian Government that’s decided we must be under women.”