Farmer to challenge expropriation of land

The Namibian government's expropriation of two more farms, as part of its ongoing land reform programme, is to be challenged before a land tribunal. It will be the first time the tribunal has been approached by a landowner disputing the price offered by government for an expropriated farm. Heidi Lacheiner-Kuhn, is the second owner to lose her land after the first farm, which belonged to Hilde Wiese, passed into government hands two months ago. Lacheiner-Kuhn owned the 'Okorusu' and 'Marburg' farms, about 280 km northwest of Windhoek: one she inherited and the other she bought from a relative. She decided to sell Okorusu after it became clear that her cattle-farming activities clashed with those of a mining company, which had the mineral rights to excavate the fluorspar found there. Although Lacheiner-Kuhn had received a monthly payment of N$25,000 from the mining company, she said "we thought it best to sell Okorusu to the mining company and received an offer". But Namibian law stipulates that every commercial farm coming up for sale must be offered to the government first, after which the state has 60 days to consider the offer. If the government does not want to buy the farm, or finds it unsuitable for its scheme to resettle landless Namibians, it must issue a waiver certificate to the owner, who can then sell the farm on the open market. Lacheiner-Kuhn offered the farm to the government in January 2004, but did not receive a waiver for five months. She took the matter to the High Court, where a judge ordered the ministry of lands to immediately issue the waiver in July 2004. The state was also ordered to pay the costs of the application. "We then renegotiated with the mining company about the sale," Lacheiner-Kuhn told IRIN. However, the government indicated this year that it wanted to buy Okorusu and the adjacent Marburg farm, and offered N $750,155 for the 3,410 hectare Okorusu and N $2.5 million for Marburg's 5,000 hectares, but Lacheiner-Kuhn found this unacceptable. An independent valuation company from South Africa pegged the price of both farms together at N $4.8 million. According to the Namibian constitution and the Agricultural Land Reform Act, the government has the right to "expropriate property in the public interest, subject to the payment of just compensation". Owners dissatisfied with the compensation offered may bring the matter before a land tribunal, established nine years ago but yet to handle a dispute of this complexity. "No property or land disputes progressed to such a stage that the lands tribunal had to make a ruling," its chairman, Dirk Conradie, told The Namibian, a local newspaper. Lacheiner-Kuhn informed the ministry through her lawyer that the price offered for both farms was too low. The ministry then used powers granted under the Commercial Land Reform Act and on 16 August, according to court documents, served a notice of expropriation on Lacheiner-Kuhn for both her farms. "Take notice that the state shall take possession of the expropriated property on 5 December 2005," the notice warned. Lacheiner-Kuhn was given 90 days to protest the order. The family left the farm last week and their lawyer, Charles Bodenstein, notified government that "the prices offered by you are not accepted ... our client's actual losses are substantial", and that she would bring the issue before the tribunal. "We now wait for the ministry's reply," Bodenstein told IRIN, "but we assume that the matter will be heard early next year." Lacheiner-Kuhn has operated a needlework project on her Okorusu farm since 1983, providing work for over 400 women in the area. The artistic tablecloths and pillowcases have been exported to Germany. "I will try and continue with the project and relocate it to the regional town of Otjiwarongo," Lacheiner-Kuhn told IRIN. "I cannot abandon those 400 people." Ten workers and their families remain on the farms, awaiting their fate. "We don't know what will happen to us," Theodore Hoabeb told IRIN, "maybe we can stay on and get resettled [under the government's land reform programme]."