‘Resettlement formula unsustainable’

The ministry of land reform and agriculture’s executive director, Percy Misika, says government’s resettlement formula is not financially sustainable nor does it meet the desired objectives.Misika made the remarks in a recent interview with Nampa which covered an array of issues around the government’s resettlement programme in the context of food security and commercial viability.“The whole process is not sustainable because what is, unfortunately, happening now is, a unit farm is advertised and each region would receive up to 300 applications. It means that, on a national level, you have about 4 000 people applying for one unit,” Misika said. He added: “The regions must now go through those applications and each recommends three applications to the Land Reform Advisory Council. So, the land council receives about 42 applications and must debate and motivate which application deserve that unit.” This process does not only take time but also benefit few people per year in comparison to the amount of money the government has to spend to acquire farms, he explained.Official records show that the government spent N$88 million to buy 10 farms on which only 20 people were resettled in the 2020/21 financial year.PROGRAMME UNDER REVIEWMisika said the current resettlement plan does not take into account or differentiate between Namibians in need of small pieces of land to call home, those who want medium land for crop or subsistence farming and those who need to commercially farm.“The programme is under review. We made the assessment last year to come up with different strategies that will ensure that we give land to the greater majority,” Misika added.He said, additionally, land acquisition through affirmative action is also under review.“What we have been seeing is that people who were previously disadvantaged acquire land but when they fail to keep up with their loans, the bank [Agribank] repossess it and auctions it off. And the only people with muscle power to buy farms on action usually are those who were previously advantaged. “At the end of the day, the farm is taken away from those who need it and given to the advantaged community whom we initially are trying to get them from,” he said.LAWMAKERSDuring the budget discussion in the National Council on Monday, several lawmakers called for the process to be reviewed claiming that the resettlement process takes time at the expense of many Namibian who need land to make living and survive from it.It was further raised that some Namibians who benefited from the resettlement programme have never occupied the farms and are leasing their farms.A beneficiary of the resettlement programme, Joe Hepute, similarly agreed that the process takes too long.He said a farm is left idle after it was acquired by the government for a period of time while the ministry goes through the application process and by the time a person is resettled, properties have been stolen from the farm and a lot of vandalism has also taken place on the farm. - Nampa

‘Resettlement formula unsustainable’

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Republikein 2025-08-04

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‘Resettlement formula unsustainable’

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