Namibia farmers in discussions
2004-05-18 15:32
Windhoek - Leaders of a commercial farmers' organisation in Namibia were meeting on Tuesday to discuss a response after the government last week handed out its first expropriation notices to white farmers.
Namibian Land Minister Hifikepunye Pohamba last week sent letters to about 10 white farm owners urging them to "make an offer to sell their property to the state and to enter into further negotiations in that regard."
The farmers were given 14 days to respond.
The closed-door meeting was expected to take all day, an official from the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) said, and a senior official from the lands ministry was also attending.
These were the first notices to be issued under the land reform programme launched in 1995 to redress the ownership imbalance stemming from the fact that much of Namibia's arable land belongs to white farmers.
Namibia has repeatedly said that any land seizures would be strictly legal with "fair and just compensation" paid to owners.
President Sam Nujoma, who has led Namibia since its 1990 independence, last month said seizures will be "implemented strictly within the provisions of our constitution and other relevant laws."
But barely a week later during May Day celebrations, he said the government would seize land from white farmers who treated their workers badly.
Opposition parties reacted with concern to the first notices, with Ignatius Shixwameni of the Congress of Democrats saying: "There is simply no reason to ape the disastrous example of Zimbabwe by creating uncertainty in the economy."
President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reform programme in which white-owned farms were seized for redistribution to new black farmers is cited as one of the reasons for food shortages and economic problems in Zimbabwe.