Namibia country report

In view of these bottlenecks, and in order to speed up redistribution, the state has madelimited use of expropriation of commercial farms for resettlement purposes. Since 2004 whenthe intention to employ this strategy was formally announced in the National Assembly, onlythree farms have been expropriated against compensation. The MLR does intend makingmore use of this strategy during the NDP3 period to redistribute more land (RoN 2008).The pace of land redistribution in Namibia is not driven by the demand for land, but ratherby what is available to government on the open market or by way of expropriation. The landredistribution programme does not give small-scale farmers an option to buy portions ofcommercial farms with financial support from government. Instead, potential land reformbeneficiaries have to apply to the MLR for resettlement in response to advertisements offarms available for resettlement. This places illiterate people at a major disadvantage. Suzmanraised the problem of widespread illiteracy in the resettlement application process, especiallyfor San people who have little experience in dealing with bureaucratic procedures (Suzman2001: 89).Land is allocated to individual beneficiaries. The ACLRA provides for beneficiaries to obtainlong-term lease agreements, but to date not a single lease agreement has been registeredin the Deeds Office. A recent press release stated that the MLR was about to start issuinglease agreements for 190 farming units on 54 farms across the country. These units had beensurveyed and valued. Fifty-two farming units are located in Omaheke Region, and two ofthese, Drimiopsis and Grootrooibult, fall within the current study area (Die Republikein,18.5.2009).Advertisements for allocation of subdivided farms are placed once the Division of Land UsePlanning in the MLR has assessed farms and prepared allotment plans. The mandate of theDivision is to be “the national systematic assessor of the natural resources potential, whichmakes alternatives for land use, economic and social conditions in order to select the bestland use options” (MLR 2006: 11).Farm subdivisions in the study area have been based on farm development plans preparedby the Department of Agricultural Technical Services in the early 1970s under the provisionsof the Soil Conservation Act of 1969. In terms of this Act, farmers were able to obtainsubsidies for internal fencing provided that an agricultural extension officer had drawnup a farm plan. The aim was to encourage more sustainable utilisation of freehold farms byenabling farmers to increase the number of internal camps to facilitate rotational grazing.One problem with this approach of the MLR is that land use planners did not always verifywhether the internal fences proposed in the farm plans were ever erected. On some of thefarms visited, specific camps without perimeter fencing had been allocated to beneficiaries.The implication was that many beneficiaries could not clearly identify the land allocated tothem due to the absence of boundary fences. In other cases they were allocated a numberof proposed camps which were indicated on the farm map but were not fenced. Whereboundary fences between beneficiaries’ allocations do not exist, pastures are utilised on acommunal basis.42 ● Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)