Nujoma slams 'racist' farmers
2004-06-17 10:27
Windhoek - Namibian President Sam Nujoma Wednesday slammed "racist" white farmers who have claimed the government's land reform programme lacks transparency and threatened to punish anyone who evicted black workers.
In a televised speech, Nujoma took a swipe at a farmers' support group which recently said the farm expropriation process was not transparent because the lands ministry did not define the criteria.
"I want to make it categorically clear to... minority racist commercial farmers whose objective it is to distort the facts concerning the government's land reform and expropriation policy, that the land question in Namibia is a sensitive issue.
"The expropriation of land will go ahead in the public interest and in line with the relevant laws, procedures and requirements," he said, adding that in each case "just compensation as determined by the official valuator" would be paid.
"The National Farmers Support Initiative and other minority racist commercial farmers should not deceive or mislead the Namibian public deliberately", Nujoma added.
Namibia, a former German colony which came under South African rule until its independence in 1990, has been ruled since then by Nujoma, who has sent strong signals on the land issue.
Namibia has an estimated 3 800 commercial farms in the country, of which about 700 have black owners since Namibia's independence in 1990.
Nujoma had told a May Day rally that a few "racist farmers" were firing their workers and leaving them homeless and threatened to expropriate their land.
He issued another warning on Wednesday.
"I would like to warn the minority racist commercial farmers that any farm owner who illegally evicts his farm workers is considered a criminal and will feel the full wrath of the laws of the Republic of Namibia", he threatened.