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NAMIBIAForeword to Southern Africa Law And Land Tenure ReviewAfrica is currently the region of the world that is witnessing the most rapid rate of urbanisation.The Southern African sub-region is no exception. The chaotic manifestations of rapid urbanisationinclude poor and inadequate infrastructure and services, urban poverty and the proliferation ofslums and informal settlements. The precarious nature of land tenure characterizing these settlementsrenders millions of people vulnerable to evictions. Their illegal status further hinders theiraccess to basic infrastructure and services, a key challenge that has to be overcome in order to attainthe Millennium Development Goals of improved water and sanitation, gender equality, health,education, nutrition and the prevention of diseases.Through the generous support of the Government of the Netherlands, UN-HABITAT is pleasedto publish its review of the legal and policy frameworks governing urban land tenure in Southern Africa. In addition to anoverview of the situation in all ten countries of the sub-region, the present report contains four case studies which analyse thespecific cases of Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. These case studies provide a comprehensive examination ofthe laws and policies governing urban land tenure, with a special focus on their impact on women’s rights to land and housing.National experts in each country have conducted extensive research to reveal the often-complex legal issues which hinder orenable the efforts of Governments, local authorities and their civil society partners in improving the living conditions of theurban poor. The study reveals that the sub-region is characterised by overlapping legal regimes. These include pre-colonialcustomary law which co-exists with a mixture of outdated and often draconian colonial laws and more recent legislation.Strengthened security of tenure for the urban poor of Southern Africa is an essential step towards sustainable urbanisationand development of the sub-region. Without secure tenure, the prospects for local economic development, a safe and healthyenvironment, and stable homes for future generations to grow up in will remain bleak. Secure tenure alone will, however, notbe sufficient and a clear message that emerges from this review is that good local governance is essential for tenure securityprogrammes are to achieve their desired goals and effectiveness.This review contains findings and recommendations for both immediate and longer-term law reform to strengthen the tenurerights of all people, especially the poor and women. While they will further guide and inform UN-HABITAT’s normativework through its two Global Campaigns for Secure Tenure and Urban Governance, it is my sincere hope they will contributeto furthering broad-based dialogue and engagement in land reform and security of tenure in all countries in Southern Africain support of attaining the Millennium Development Goals.Mrs. Anna Kajumulo TibaijukaExecutive DirectorUnited Nations Human Settlements Programme(UN-HABITAT)Land Tenure, Housing Rights and Gender Review: Southern Africaiii
NAMIBIAAcknowledgementsGlobal Coordinator and Substantive Editor: Marjolein Benschop, UN-HABITATAssisted by Florian Bruyas, UN-HABITATRegional Coordinator Law, Land Tenure and Gender Review in Southern Africa:Stephen Berrisford and Theunis RouxRegional Overview and summary of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: Stephen Berrisford, Theunis Roux and MichaelKihatoWomen’s rights sections in regional overview: Joyce McMillan, Women and Law in Southern AfricaExecutive Summary, Introduction, restructuring and shortening of final draft: Stephen Berrisford and Michael KihatoEditing: Greg RosenbergNamibia Chapter:Legal Assistance Centre: Willem Odendaal, Researcher, with assistance from Shadrack Tjiramba and guidance from NormanTjombe, Director.UN-HABITAT and the Legal Assistance Centre would like to express special thanks toSøren Christensen, who wrote the section on the Flexible Land Tenure System and provided additional comments and correctionsto the final draft.The Legal Assistance Centre would like to thank the following persons and organisations:Anna Muller, Director, Namibia Housing and Action GroupAlbert Engel, Sector Coordinator Natural Resources and Rural Development forGTZ in NamibiaAunue Shipanga, Manager Public Relations, National Housing EnterpriseEdith Mbanga, National Coordinator, Shack Dwellers Federation of NamibiaivLand Tenure, Housing Rights and Gender Review: Southern Africa
Page 2 and 3: NAMIBIALAND TENURE, HOUSING RIGHTS
Page 6 and 7: NAMIBIAFenny Nauyala, Deputy Direct
Page 8: NAMIBIATABLE OF CONTENTSFOREWARDiii
Page 15: NAMIBIAFigure 1.1 Map of Southern A
Page 18 and 19: NAMIBIA2 Legal systems of the regio
Page 20 and 21: NAMIBIAquestion in the immediate af
Page 22 and 23: NAMIBIA5 Land and housingmovements
Page 24 and 25: NAMIBIAmembers. These include the S
Page 26 and 27: NAMIBIAis especially evident in Les
Page 28 and 29: NAMIBIA9 Women’s rights to land a
Page 30 and 31: NAMIBIAthe woman may take her small
Page 32 and 33: NAMIBIAIn general, women in Souther
Page 34 and 35: NAMIBIAto many women. A regional au
Page 36: NAMIBIAas the New Partnership for A
Page 39 and 40: NAMIBIAvious parts of the report. T
Page 42 and 43: NAMIBIAThe territory of Namibia is
Page 44 and 45: NAMIBIAvillage councils have 5 memb
Page 46 and 47: NAMIBIANamibia Housing Action Group
Page 48 and 49: NAMIBIAerty in any part of Namibia.
Page 50: NAMIBIAcurrent freehold and leaseho
Page 53 and 54: NAMIBIASummaryTable 2.2 Tenure type
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NAMIBIADirectorate of Resettlement
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NAMIBIAIn addition, Namibia has sig
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NAMIBIAthat reasonable rent is char
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NAMIBIAinfrastructure and social se
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NAMIBIA4.3 Legislation related to m
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NAMIBIAable property, such as cattl
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NAMIBIAtery by the wife, taking a s
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NAMIBIA6 Land Management Systems6.1
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NAMIBIA6.2 Informal settlements and
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NAMIBIAtransactions, but instead wi
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NAMIBIAplanning that assumes high l
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NAMIBIAAdministration Proclamation
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NAMIBIADSM. Included in the package
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NAMIBIA11 Recommendations11.1 Flexi
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NAMIBIAInheritance and marital prop
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NAMIBIA74Land Tenure, Housing Right
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NAMIBIAMenges, W. (2001). Outdated
Page 89 and 90:
NAMIBIABerrisford, S. et al (2003).
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NAMIBIAZambia Association for Resea
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NAMIBIAThe Convention on the Elimin
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NAMIBIATreaty Namibia South Africa
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