Namibian farms face land grabs
2003-12-29 09:08
Okahandja - Martin Wucher's family has raised cattle in central Namibia for a century. Now he faces threats to his home and livelihood.
Frustrated with the government's stalled land reform programme, impoverished black farmers and labourers warn that come January they will start invading the country's mostly white-owned commercial farms.
The government has been quick to condemn the threats, but many white farmers fear parallels with the violent land seizures that have plunged neighbouring Zimbabwe into crisis.
Those who imagine otherwise are engaging in wishful thinking, Wucher said. "They just hope it doesn't happen."
Whites make up less than a tenth of the 1.8 million Namibians but about 4 200 white farmers own half the agricultural land.
Namibia was first ruled by Germany, then South Africa, which imposed apartheid. Blacks couldn't own land until the mid-1980s, and most of those working it today still can't afford to buy it.
Since independence in 1990, the government has sought to restore equality in land ownership through its "willing seller, willing buyer" programme.
The state, which gets first refusal on any agricultural property up for sale, has bought 124 farms covering more than 680 000 hectares and reallocated them free to more than nine thousand Namibians.
The target set in 2000 was to redistribute nine million hectares in five years.
But more than 200 000 landless Namibians still await resettlement. They include blacks driven off their land under South African rule, and farm labourers who never owned land of their own.
Alfred Angula, general secretary of the Namibia Farm Workers Union, claims there are thousands of under-utilised commercial farms not up for sale that could accommodate its members.
Angula says talks with the Namibia Agricultural Union, an umbrella group representing commercial farmers, have been a "total failure," and that if there's no deal next month, labourers will start invading farms.
The government says it won't tolerate illegal occupations. However, Lands Minister Hifikepunye Pohamba concedes that reform has been too slow.
"This is because the willing buyer may have money to buy, but if there is no willing seller, you will still have the money," he said.
Wucher's family has owned Bergquell farm since 1904. There are now 700 cattle grazing the land.
The farm employs six workers who live on the property with their families.
Wucher argues against chopping up farms, saying big is better in the modern agricultural world, and he's unapologetic about how much land he owns.
"Land is not an asset unless you work it," he said. "It doesn't matter if he's white or black. If he doesn't work it the right way, he will not survive."
Simion Nikongo, a welder working on a white-owned farm northeast of Windhoek, sees it differently.
"This land is important to us as Namibians," he said. "It would be better if farms were distributed to many different people."
- AP