Namibia country report

2.8 Land acquisition and allocationLand acquisition in Namibia is ‘proactive’ in the sense that the MLR buys freehold landfor subdivision and redistribution to people in need of land. The state has committeditself to the “willing seller, willing buyer” (WSWB) principle for acquiring freehold land.It has been argued that this principle protects the interests of landowners in so far as itneither compels them to sell against their will, nor forces them to sell at a price with whichthey are not fully satisfied (Lahiff 2005: 2).In some government and public circles the WSWB principle has been singled out as the rootcause of the slow acquisition of commercial farmland for resettlement purposes (Gurirab2004). As a result, the government announced plans in February 2004 to implement anexpropriation option for commercial agricultural land to speed up its efforts to buy moreland for the resettlement programme.The government blamed commercial farmers for the slow pace of land reform, arguing thatthey only offered to sell small, uneconomical plots for resettlement under the WSWB option.In his farewell speech as Minister of Lands and Resettlement, Namibia’s President Pohambastated that “those who have land to sell [should sell] a little land to the Government at fairprices so that we [the Government] have land to give to the landless people” in order toavoid a situation where “Namibia could be made ungovernable” if the “‘have-nots’ patiencewith the current slow process of land reform runs out” (The Namibian, 22.3.2005).It has been argued that much more land has been available for purchase than the governmenthas been able to purchase. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), an independentresearch organisation in Namibia, has stated that the slow process of land reform should beattributed to “leaden-footed bureaucracy, rather than commercial farmers dragging theirheels” (quoted in De Villiers 2003: 38). Despite government’s intention to speed up the landreform process with the introduction of the expropriation principle in 2004, in addition tothe WSWB principle, land reform continues to proceed at a slow pace. In 2008 the MLRacquired only 3 out of approximately 70 commercial farms which exchanged hands in thatyear (Die Republikein, 5.5.2009).Namibian land policy and legislation provides for a preferent right of land acquisition bythe state and a land tax. In terms of the ACLRA, the state enjoys a right of first refusal onall freehold land that is offered for sale in the market. Once the MLR has indicated its noninterestin obtaining a particular farm, it issues a waiver which entitles the seller to look fora private buyer.A land tax was introduced in 2004 with expectations that it would bring more land ontothe market (Sherbourne 2009: 6). Information gleaned from MLR Annual Reports does notsuggest that this has happened. The data suggests that the number of farms offered to theMLR reached a peak of 344 in the year preceding the introduction of the land tax and thendecreased. Revenues from the land tax swelled the coffers of the Land Acquisition andDevelopment Fund established to pay for purchasing land and developing the land purchased.40 ● Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)