First white farms in Namibia expropriated

IOL

[Ironfocus]

March 05 2004 at 05:18PM

By Manoah Esipisu

Namibia has begun a fast-track expropriation of land from white farmers but will not follow neighbouring Zimbabwe's policy of seizing farms by force, Agriculture Minister Helmut Angula said on Friday.

Minority whites own 75 percent of arable land in the southern African country, but a land redistribution policy that tries to match willing buyers with willing sellers is not moving fast enough, Angula said.

"We just announced the first act in the expropriation. I can say it is about nine farms," Angula said in an interview in South Africa.

'We just announced the first act in the expropriation' The government had acted in response to the "unsatisfactory" pace of reform and other obstacles such as sudden increases in the price of land owned mainly by white farmers that made it too expensive for the state to purchase, he said.

"We have said, okay, the government also reserves the right to expropriate land if the pace is not satisfactory. We are doing it now," Angula said.

Land pressure has been mounting in Namibia in recent months, raising fears President Sam Nujoma might be tempted to emulate his Zimbabwean counterpart and fellow independence guerrilla leader Robert Mugabe.

The issue has become more urgent because the country will hold presidential and parliamentary elections later this year, and many peasants complain they have not received the land Nujoma promised them at independence in 1990.

Over the past 14 years, Namibia has resettled 300 000 smallholders and created 500 new commercial farmers, but a lot more needs to be done, Angula said.

'I can say it is about nine farms' He said Western countries previously reluctant to fund the land reform scheme had stepped forward with cash. Budget allocations for land redistribution was set to double to N$50-million (about R50-million) this year from N$20-million in 2003, he said.

Nujoma's government backs Mugabe's policy of seizing land from white farmers. But the policy has been blamed by Mugabe's critics for causing an economic crisis that threatens the lives of millions of people in a country where large commercial white-owned farms once produced bumper crops.

Whites make up only five percent of Namibia's population of 1,9 million people.

Expropriation is triggered by a notice served upon the owner of the agricultural land. On receipt of the notice, the owner is required to prepare and submit a claim for compensation to the lands ministry.

The ministry says it hopes to redistribute about nine million hectares of commercial farmland, owned mostly by whites breeding cattle in the sprawling former German colony.

[Ironfocus]

Here we go...

[Guillermo]

In a few months, the International Left will be blaming George Bush and the United States for the famine that will inevitably occur.

[2banana]

When does the USA start bombing?

[CSM]

Eminent domain use is up, so we will eventually be facing the same thing.

[cyborg]

The millions of christians and animists being slaughtered in the Sudan doesn't move the US administration much (that includes prior adminstrations as well). I'm not holding my breath for any US action of any sort other than platitudes.

[cyborg]

Are you talking about the United States?

[junta]

Of course it is all a scam. First he steals the property then he allows his peasants onto the worst of it to starve to death or become boob bait for white liberals to send money to enrich the government. But the enevitable happens he sells it to outside buyers and kicks the peasants off and back to their shanty towns for Sally Struthers to care for them.

[CSM]

Yes.

[cyborg]

The issue has become more urgent because the country will hold presidential and parliamentary elections later this year, and many peasants complain they have not received the land Nujoma promised them at independence in 1990.

***Never make promises you can't keep. Also,a slave is not to be made kind in a day with respect to handing over farms to peasants who will most likely engage in subsistence farming as opposed to turning a profit. A country can't survive on subsistence farming.

[cyborg]

Who is going to be grabbing land in the United States? You can't compare Namibia to US.

[Buckeye McFrog]

they HAVE arable farm land in Namibia? I'm amazed...
according to National Geographic, that country gets something like .25 inches of rain per year.

It certainly drives home to people the folly of "wealth redistribution" when you see people actually forced off of their land at gunpoint (as opposed to having a witholding from your paycheck)....

[cyborg]

Bwanje Farmers Undergo Training in Irrigation Farming



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The Chronicle Newspaper (Lilongwe)

February 16, 2004
Posted to the web February 16, 2004

Annabel Ridpath
Lilongwe

Irrigation agriculture experts from Kilimanjaro Agriculture Training Centre (KATC) in Tanzania recently visited Malawi and conducted a five day training course on water management for Ninety farmer from the Bwanje Valley Irrigation, Crop Production and Marketing Co-operative Society.

Silio Paulo, chairperson of the scheme's Cooperative Society was impressed with the training which he said would improved the participant's knowledge of efficient water utilisation techniques. Part of the training included strengthening their leadership skills and also highlighting the need for creating and enforcing by-laws which would help the scheme to operate efficiently and benefit all its members: 'Once we put what we are discussing here into practice, we expect to get higher yields, which should further improve our lives,' he added.


J. C. R Shaba, a crop protection officer for Dedza Rural Development Progra-mme (DRDP) who attended the course said: 'Action planning is particularly important because it facilitates the timely and coordinated implementation of activities. Farmers will be able to sell their commodities as an organised group. They will also be able to institute their own activities and receive extension advice,' he remarked.

The skills picked up by the farmers and the benefits are likely to spread to other farmers outside the scheme.

Adam Pyuza, Deputy Principal of KATC advised that the farmers themselves should take the initiative and lead the way. He said it was important that farmers should take the lead and that support from extension staff should follow their initiatives closely. He also added that any improvement strategy should be owned by the farmers themselves. 'The basic approach is to promote farmer-to-farmer knowledge transfer which will result in higher multiplication of extension benefits'.

The Irrigation Scheme began in 1997 with a US$16 million grant aid from the government of Japan.

Relevant Links

Southern Africa
Malawi
Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs



Situated along the Nankhokwe River in Dedza, the scheme comprises of an 800 hectare project with 2,240 farmers. 768 of the framers are women who have an average landholding of 0.4 hectare per farmer.

Rice, maize, beans and vegetables are the major crops under cultivation benefiting all the people in the valley.

[Ironfocus]

Only 1% of the land is arable. Most is semi-desert, with grazing for cattle if it's a good rainy season.

[spodefly]

So, when every single white person is finally out of Africa, will all their problems be solved?

[cyborg]

Nope. The pesky christians will still be there.

[CSM]

You might not be aware of it, but eminent domain has been used to confiscate property on behalf of private businesses. The "general welfare" is improved by the increased tax revenues. This has occured in many areas from Georgia to Cleveland.

I am not comparing the US to Nambia, I am saying the foundation has been laid that will eventually lead us to the same conclusion.

[Ironfocus]

I have heard this too. If the local council decides it is in public interest, private property is confiscated. Scary.

[cyborg]

Yes give government an inch, they'll go right off the edge. Pretty sad but I think I agree.

[Ironfocus]

Of course not. Whites will still be blamed for the legacies of colonialism, apartheid etc. Those are the real reasons for Africa's woes. Not.