WINDHOEK – The DTA of Namibia’s President McHenry Venaani says government is taking too long to put up a buffer zone between Namibia and Angola. He said that excuses that communities will cut the fence as in the past are futile because government can deploy the army to guard the fence.
“If we put up a buffer zone between Namibia and Angola and control the movements of cattle across the northern border the prices of cattle in the north can match those south of the redline. This thing of saying people will cut the fence is not sufficient, we have thousands of soldiers in this country who have nothing to do, so we can post them to guard the fence. At the moment we are leading our people into poverty just because we fear they might cut the fence,” Venaani told New Era in an interview yesterday.
According to Venaani, the redline can be kept as a cordon fence but there is a need for a buffer zone in order to open economic activities that can grow the country because the value of animals north of the redline will go up.
With an estimated 1.3 million cattle in the Kunene, Ohangwena, Oshana, Omusati, Oshikoto and the two Kavango regions, Venaani says there is an urgent need to improve the economic viability of cattle north of the redline to put more money in the pockets of farmers to benefit more Namibians who depend on those farmers.
“Zambezi is a different story because of the prevalence of buffaloes, but from Kunene to Kavango, if we can put up a fence, and in two or three years invite inspectors from the European Union to come and inspect the situation we can then get the green light and therefore put these cattle on the export market because we will be able to push up our quota,” he said.
There has been a lot of interest in Namibian cattle from Angolan nationals lately and this, according to Venaani, is very dangerous.
“They buy our [Namibian] cattle in bulk and eventually create their own profitable beef industry in Angola and buffer their line – leaving us hanging.”
Venaani is irked by the fact that cattle in the northern areas are sold at meagre prices compared to the very same cattle south of the redline simply because they [northern cattle] cannot make it onto the export market.
By Mathias Haufiku