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The ruling Southwest Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) party in Namibia is preparing to force commercial farmers to sell their land so that it can be redistributed to the landless.
In a speech to parliament reported by ‘The Namibian’ on Tuesday, SWAPO chief whip in the Assembly and the party’s Secretary General, Hifikepunye Pohamba, said “the majority of the persons who belonged to the advantaged class” have been reluctant to “sell part of their vast land” to Government willingly.
“In light of the reluctance on the part of some land owners to sell part of their land property to the state, the SWAPO party government should have no other alternative but to implement Article 16 (2) of the Constitution to expropriate some land in the interest of the landless people of this country,” said Pohamba. He emphasised that the expropriation of land will be done with “just compensation” as the Constitution stipulates.
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