Namibia govt grabs 1st farm

2005-09-02 10:25

Windhoek - Namibia's government has quietly expropriated its first white-owned farm under the terms of its land reform programme, ordering its former occupants off the premises by the end of November, said the farm's owner on Thursday.

Hilde Wiese was among 15 white farm owners who were told in May last year by the southwest African state's government to "make an offer" for the sale of their land.

Wiese said the government paid 3.7 million Namibian dollars ($583 000) for the Ongombo West farm, located about 40km east of the capital.

Wiese said: "The ministry of lands and resettlement handed the cheque last week to my lawyer."

The 69-year-old farm owner, who last month estimated that the 9 880-acre farm at a value of about nine million Namibian dollars, had reluctantly agreed on the set price.

'Buyer pays the costs'

She said: "The money was paid into a trust account and I will receive it only once the transfer is completed."

The Wiese family also had to pay 6 000 Namibian dollars in transfer fees saying they were "forced to do that by the ministry of lands, although usually the buyer pays the costs and not the seller".

Namibia's 3 800 white farmers own most of the arable land in the desert country, an imbalance the government had vowed to redress.

Owning Ongombo West farm for the past four generations, the Wieses were drawn into a political storm of land ownership after a dispute last year with six farm workers who were evicted.

Black farm workers

The workers were reinstated after an order by Namibia's labour court.+

The family as well as 70 black farm workers would now have to be off the farm by the end of November.

Wiese asked: "Where do they go from here, why can't they stay and be resettled?"

Namibia's lands ministry confirmed it had paid the money.

A government official said: "Payment was made last week and we now wait for the transfer of ownership to be completed."

Former president Sam Nujoma singled out the Wiese farm in a speech, saying "some of the whites are behaving as if they came from Holland or Germany" for evicting their workers.

Land imbalance

Nujoma's successor and former lands minister Hifikepunye Pohamba had vowed to press on with the expropriations, warning in March that Namibia could face a "revolution" if the land imbalance was not addressed.

The small opposition Republican Party had condemned the expropriation.

Party president Henk Mudge said: "The government has confirmed on various occasions it would not use expropriation as a punitive measure against farmers who are perceived to have problems with their workers."

Mudge said: "It is with utter disbelief that we now learn that the government went ahead to expropriate Ongombo West", adding that Namibia's constitution only allowed for land to be expropriated if it was in the public interest.

- AFP