Not all 169 resolutions taken at the 2018 land indaba form part of the draft Land Bill, as some have failed to pass the constitutional test, therefore coming into conflict with the supreme law of the land.

Currently with the legal drafters, the Land Bill will go to the policy level thereafter for input by government executives.

It will then head to Parliament in September for input and possibly, promulgation.

“By and large, most resolutions [from the second land conference] form part of the draft bill. But not all of them as some may infringe on the Constitution,” said Penda Ithindi, the deputy land reform executive director.

He was responding to questions by this agency on Tuesday.

Should Parliament find it necessary, the ministry is more than willing to make a presentation on the draft law at a special parliamentary session.

Back in 2018, the government organised the second National Land Conference which adopted 169 land reform resolutions that emanated from five thematic areas.

Among them was the issue of ancestral land claims and restitution.

The conference resulted in the establishment of a commission on ancestral land.

Over the past two years, the commission investigated and made recommendations to the government on the matter. The findings were submitted to the Head of State.

Under commercial land reform programmes, the conference decided to abolish the ‘willing-seller, willing-buyer’ policy as a primary land acquisition method.

Instead, it was agreed that land expropriation be within the confines of the Namibian Constitution and should include just compensation.

The conference resolved to expropriate foreign owned agricultural land while underutilised commercial farms owned by Namibians must also be subjected to expropriation.

In addition, it was agreed that the allocation of resettlement farms be on a 70:30 basis in favour of land dispossessed communities and veterans of the liberation struggle and their dependents.

Furthermore, no Namibian will be allowed to own more than one commercial farming unit, it resolved.

On urban land reform, the conference resolved to implement Rent Ordinance Act 13 of 1977, to regulate rent prices. No progress has been made in this regard.

Another resolution was that Government houses be transferred as rental social houses to regional and local authorities.

The government was also directed to assist traditional authorities in enforcing the Communal Land Reform Act of 2002.

This was in a bid to arrest the continued practice of illegal fencing which is rife in communal areas.

A notable resolution on urban land was that foreign investment in real estate must be regulated and that no land should be sold to foreign nationals.

At the time, the conference was branded a “gimmick” by critics.

Government brushed this tag off, lauding the conference as a “resounding success”.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency