Namibia country report

A farm in Hardap – enforcing private property ownership.Despite these measures, the amount of suitable land for resettlement offered to the MLRhas gradually decreased over the last few years, while waivers to sell on the open markethave increased. Several factors are responsible for this situation.One is that ‘affirmative action buyers’ are competing with the MLR for quality land. As theAALS is regarded as a component of the effort to address the inequality in freehold landownership, the MLR took a policy decision to exempt landowners wishing to sell their landto AALS buyers from obtaining a waiver. Many prospective landowners prefer to sell theirland to AALS buyers rather than government because this gives them an opportunity tonegotiate a price with the prospective buyer without fear of being unable to withdraw theiroffer to sell. The success of such a transaction depends on seller and buyer negotiating aprice acceptable to both parties, and the buyer mobilising the purchase capital through anAALS loan and his/her own resources.The result of this process is that AALS buyers buy the best farmland before the MLR has achance to assess such land for the resettlement programme. Consequently, the MLR claimsthat much of the land offered to it is of inferior quality and often unsuitable for resettlement.The Ministry blames the slow pace of land acquisition on this state of affairs.The escalation of farm prices has been another serious bottleneck. The WSWB principleis based on “market value”, but neither the ACLRA nor the National Land Policy defines thisterm. In discussing the right to expropriate private property, Namibia’s Constitution refersto “just compensation” (Article 16). “Just compensation” is not necessarily limited to marketvalue but could also refer to a farm’s production value – a criterion that many financialinstitutions use.Section Livelihoods A ● 2. Land after Reform Land and Reform: Poverty: Namibia National country Policy report Context (2010) ● 41