Namibia country report

Having no cash reserves, he often had to ask for an advance on his wage to buy food to eatwhile living in the bush. He commonly received a net wage of N$300 to N$400. With thisincome he bought food and clothes for his family. His income did not last long; the processof searching for piece work began again within a few days. Elias had a strong desire tobreak this cycle of poverty to which he had been subject for most of his life. His biggestwish was to have access to credit and land in order to raise cattle and make a living fromcattle farming, but none of these things had materialised to date. He felt that governmentwas prioritising the San when it came to providing financial support to buy cattle.Alfons had gone out to work only once since settling at Skoonheid in 2000. If employerswere to go to Skoonheid to look for workers, he would sign up, but he was no longer going outto look for employment, his reason being that was too little to be had. He saw other peopleat the project go out and return without having found any employment. He considered it awaste of time, and would rather spend his time in his garden.Apart from the beneficiaries who did not want to go out to look for work due to the highopportunity costs, there were others who could not do so due to illness. John at Drimiopsis,for example, was only 51 years old but rheumatism prevented his going out to work. Withouta pension and unable to do farm work, he did not have enough money to visit the clinic.6.3.2.4 ShopsBeneficiaries at Drimiopsis and Skoonheid were dependent on shops for their basic foodand other requirements as they did not produce enough food to sustain themselves. Therewere three shops at Drimiopsis. One, owned by an Oshiwambo-speaking man, was locatedon the project land, and across the road was another, owned by an official beneficiary ofSan/Damara descent. The third shop, which was not on the project land, was owned by anofficial of the Department of Forestry, an Oshiwambo-speaking woman, who was grantedpermission to establish the shop, on condition that she did not sell alcohol. This permissionwas reportedly granted by a Development Planner of the MLR in the Gobabis regional office.A general complaint among beneficiaries was that prices in all three shops were too high.Sometimes they went to commercial farms to obtain basic foodstuffs at lower prices. Dueto a general shortage of cash, beneficiaries made use of credit at the shops. For many thisimplied a neverending cycle of indebtedness and impoverishment: as soon as they obtainedtheir pension or income from employment or craft sales, they had to use it to pay off theirdebt, which left too little money for buying food until more money came in, which meantasking for credit at the shops again.Business opportunities for beneficiaries were very limited, mainly because of the low levelsof education of most beneficiaries, the lack of surplus capital to invest in even the smallestshop or another activity, and the difficulty of marketing goods due to the long distances tomarkets and a lack of transport.Rudolf, an official beneficiary at Drimiopsis, established a small shop when he settled onthe scheme in 1991. Since then he had combined livestock farming, crop production and the154 ● Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)