Namibian land grab plans denied
2004-02-28 11:05
Windhoek - Namibian media reported on Friday that the government intended to seize eight farms belonging to white farmers, but the government denied the reports categorically.
The weekly newspaper "Namibia Today", organ of the ruling South West Africa People's Organisation and the national radio service of the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), a state entity, both reported that the farms, which they identified, would be appropriated soon.
But Frans Tsheehama, the permanent secretary in the ministry of lands, resettlement and rehabilitation, said: "Those farm names published are wrong. There are procedures and any farm expropriations will be done according to the laws. First a notice will be issued in the Government Gazette, then advertisements on the farms to be expropriated will be placed in the local newspapers."
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab addressed the nation in a televised speech in which he said that as well as buying farms on the "willing buyer-willing-seller" principle for distribution to blacks, the government would expropriate farms in with just compensation, as provided for under an act amended by parliament last year.
"Over the years, government has come to realise that the willing-seller-willing-buyer approach is cumbersome and as a result, it would not be able to keep up with the high public demand for agricultural land," the prime minister said.
That process was "too slow because of arbitrarily inflated land prices and the unavailability of productive land".
More than 240 000 landless people are currently awaiting resettlement, Gurirab said.