Namibian land reform to be speeded up

Namibian President Sam Nujoma said on Tuesday his government would speed up its efforts to give land to people but reiterated the state would stick to its willing-buyer, willing-seller policy, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

“Starting this year increased efforts will be made to resettle our landless people in a speedy manner,” Nujoma said at the first cabinet meeting of the year. “In the same vein, I also call on those who own excess land to cooperate with the government in its efforts to address and resolve the present imbalances in land redistribution,” he said. Reports said that an estimated 34,000 people have been resettled on commercial farm land since independence from South Africa in 1990.

The government wants to resettle a further 243,000 people and has said it wants to acquire 9.5 million hectares of land for its programme. White farmers numbering just over 4,000 own nearly 30.5 million hectares, with 2.2 million hectares held by an estimated 200 black commercial farmers.