Debate on land reform heats up

A senior official from the Namibian ministry of lands on Monday denied that members of the country's elite had abused affirmative action loans meant to benefit communal farmers. Last week the opposition Congress of Democrats (CoD) released the names of top government officials and heads of parastatals who had allegedly used the government's Affirmative Action Loan Scheme (AALS) for "self-enrichment". The list included lands minister Hifikepunye Pohamba, speaker of the national assembly Mose Tjitendero, and chief executive of the transport parastatal, TransNamib, John Shaetonhodi. But Frans Tsheehama, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement, told IRIN that while some senior government officials have bought land through the loan scheme, the process was transparent and followed the official guidelines. "There is absolutely no foundation for the allegations that certain individuals have abused the loan scheme. The scheme was set up so that [formerly] disadvantaged Namibians may have an opportunity to purchase land. All of the individuals mentioned in the [CoD] list applied for loans through the legal channels and will be expected to repay those loans, irrespective of their political affiliation. The accusations of nepotism and cronyism reek of political bias," he said. He noted that since 1992, when the scheme was launched, 513 historically disadvantaged Namibians had secured land for commercial use. "Most of whom have absolutely no connection to [the ruling] SWAPO party," he said. Tsheehama added that there was a misconception that the AALS was aimed at assisting poor communal farmers. "The AALS was initiated to attract large-scale communal farmers from disadvantaged communities into the commercial farming sector. This was just one of the ways the government had attempted, with the assistance of AgriBank, to give more black farmers further access to the agricultural sector in the country," he said. Poor communal farmers who did not qualify for the affirmative action loan scheme were guaranteed assistance through the government's land resettlement programme, Tsheehama said. Tsheehama countered recent criticism that the pace of land redistribution has been far too slow. Namibia has followed a "willing buyer, willing seller" policy. Eight years ago the target was to buy and redistribute 9.5 million hectares in five years. However, by the end of last year the government had been able to buy only 118 commercial farms, covering a total of 710,000 hectares. "The two handicaps affecting the speed of the land reform programme are the lack of suitable land, and funding. While some farmers have been forthcoming and have offered arable land, others have offered land that is unsuitable for extensive commercial farming. Also, we are short of funds to enable the government to buy more farms and resettle more black farmers," Tsheehama said. Wolfgang Werner, a land specialist at the Namibia Policy Research Unit, agreed that the lack of funding was an obstacle to speeding up land reform in Namibia. A critical shortage of skills was also hampering implementation of the existing programme. "A number of shortcomings need to be addressed so that, when the funding is in place, the government's programme can be executed swiftly. Presently there is a shortage of land evaluators in the country; there also needs to be adequate training for officials who are responsible for such a programme," Werner said. Last month Germany, the country's former colonial power, announced that part of a recent development aid package for Namibia would go towards the country's land reform programme. Some of the money would be used to finance the Permanent Technical Committee, recently appointed by the Namibian cabinet, to come up with an action plan for land reform. Redistribution was a key aspect of Namibia's liberation war and the land reform debate resurfaced following comments by President Sam Nujoma at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg last year. Nujoma said he supported the land seizures being carried out by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. At the time Nujoma received support from some of the more radical elements in the trade union movement as well as civil society, who called for land redistribution without compensation. The government moved to amend its land policy, making it harder for foreign nationals to own land in the country. "The government has, in the past, introduced measures to placate some of the more radical groups in the ruling party, but at some point it has to be seen to be doing something about the land issue. Unless the process is accelerated there are likely to be foreseeable problems," Werner said. Meanwhile, Namibia's Agricultural Union told IRIN it supported land reform, but had concerns about the sustainability of the current programme. "We have always said that land reform must happen in Namibia but we are worried that many of the new farmers have very little resources, and in the long term would be unable to keep up with farming on a large scale. The government needs to conduct an independent investigation into its existing programmes and try to beef up assistance packages to farmers," NAU director Sakkie Coetzee said.