Veterans of the liberation struggle never suffered land dispossession at the hands of colonial Germany or apartheid South Africa and should not be prioritised for resettlement farms, the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) says.
The movement was seemingly hitting back at one of the clauses of the land conference which places veterans of the liberation struggle in a special bracket for consideration in the resettlement programme, alongside those who lost land through the heinous genocide of 1904-1908.
The LPM made this submission in an 18-page dossier titled ‘Building a Capable State Post Covid-19’ to President Hage Geingob last week.
In it, LPM makes a number of proposals to the Head of State, including how the dejected Hai||om community can be unchained from the jaws of poverty.
At the heart of LPM’s report is land reform, an area where – according to leader Bernadus Swartbooi – the government of the day has failed dismally.
It must be brought to a halt “and new modalities implemented without delay”.
“Veterans [of the liberation struggle] never lost any single iota of land and as such the prioritisation of veterans [in resettlement] must be stopped with immediate effect. Genocide victims must be prioritised by law in the resettlement programme,” reads a section of the report.
At present, LPM said, the resettlement programme is skewed as it favours the political elites, their kith and kin and those within close proximity to power, to the detriment of the landless masses.
The LPM further theorises that: “State bureaucrats and the politically powerful often capture resources in land reform through the following: the soliciting and payment of bribes, fronting, the imposition of politically-connected and bailing out politically connected people.”
The movement then dropped the plight of the Hai||om San community at Geingob’s doorsteps.
“The Hai||om are living a life of poverty, hunger and frequent relocation. [Their] wages are low and working conditions poor. Many Hai||om draw a meagre cash income from cutting bush to make charcoal. Others simply live on farms without employment.”
LPM also took issue with the government’s inaction on Farm Duwib, despite calls over the years to have Hai||om San members resettled on the farm which also forms part of their ancestral land.
Back in 2012, former Tsumeb Constituency councillor, Lebbius Tobias wrote to the then land reform minister, Alpheus !Naruseb, asking him to resettle Hai||om members on Farm Duwib No. 1149 and Agenab 760 as the community was already living there.
“No response was provided. The same trajectory seems to be continuing as the letter written by the senior headman, Mr Johannes Haweseb was ignored by current agriculture and land reform minister, Mr Calle Schlettwein,” LPM pleaded.
Source: Namibia Press News Agency
