Posted on 06/12/2004 8:57:53 AM PDT by Clive
Windhoek - A black farm workers' union in Namibia threatened on Friday to seize white-owned farms by force in an angry response to a new farmers' organisation which has vowed to fight land expropriations in the southern African country.
President Sam Nujoma's government last month told 15 white farm owners to make an offer to sell their property to the state, the first move by the authorities to force the white farmers off their land.
"If the white colleagues do not want expropriation of land, we can always introduce a new method - which is taking the land without compensation and without sharing it with them, by force," said Alfred Angula, general secretary of the Namibia Farmworkers' Union.
Angula was responding to statements from a new organisation, the Namibia Farmers' Support Initiative, launched this week to oppose the expropriations, which have fuelled fears that Namibia may follow the path of Zimbabwe on land reform.
'If the white colleagues do not want expropriation of land, we can always introduce a new method' Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe launched land reform in 2000 in which thousands of white farms were seized, at times using force, and handed to landless blacks.
Angula accused the new group of "trying to stop the land reform process in Namibia" and of inciting violence.
"We of NAWFU are sending a serious warning to Sigi Eimbeck and his followers not to provoke the Namibian people", he said, referring to the leader of the new group.
Eimbeck told AFP on Friday that his group was dissatisfied with the main Namibia Agricultural Union, which is seeking to hold negotiations with the government on land reform.
"We want a fair and transparent land reform process and will take government to court on behalf of our members if the expropriation is done unfairly", he said.
"There exists a lot of uncertainty and fear among farmers after the government sent out expropriation notices last month," said Eimbeck.
The government has repeatedly stressed that land reform will be carried out within the context of the law, that just compensation will be paid, and that the move is necessary as most of Namibia's arable land is in white hands.
Namibia, a former German colony which came under South African rule until its independence in 1990, has been ruled by Nujoma, who has sent strong signals on the land issue.
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Yea, that's going well, millions are now starving and their country is down the drain, but what the heck.
No doubt Kofi Annan is as concerned about this issue as he is the genocides in Sudan and the impending famine in Zimbabwe.
If anyone in America thinks trying to right past wrongs of racism by taking things from other people is a good thing, then look at Namibia. Namibia isn't like Zimbabwe but it soon will be.
Sigh.
Whites should sell their land, take a two year European vacation; and buy back the land at pennies on the dollar after the government collapses.
It looks like starvation is Africa's fate.
\Ex*pro`pri*a"tion\, n. [Cf. F. expropriation.] The act of expropriating; the surrender of a claim to exclusive property; the act of depriving of ownership or proprietary rights. To transfer (another's property) to oneself.
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Expropriate or sieze, big deal. In a case like this there ain't a dime's worth of difference.
Land use:
arable land: 0.99%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 99.01% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
70 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
prolonged periods of drought
I'm sure the people of Namibia will be satisfied with the results.
After all, who could possibly object to a their economy shrinking, racial strife increasing, and the global community completely ostracizing your nation?
Environment - current issues:
very limited natural fresh water resources; desertification;
wildlife poaching; land degradation has led to few conservation areas
true
I guess the basic idea is to transfer farmers from the dry, arid highlands to a parts of the country that are more arable.
Like most government proposals, this thing has turned out to be a total disaster, leading to even more deaths, poverty and social strife among differing tribes than had existed prior to the gov't getting involved in the first place.
"We prefer to starve under black ownership. We know that the white countries will come in to feed us later."
They are probably making a deal with China for land like Zimbabwe has.
"Land Reform" is a weasel word term. It's theft. Period.
Ummmm. Where's the UN and all the lefties about this 'ethnic cleansing'???
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Angula was responding to statements from a new organisation, the Namibia Farmers' Support Initiative, launched this week to oppose the expropriations, which have fuelled fears that Namibia may follow the path of Zimbabwe on land reform."
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OPINION: When it comes to persecuting Christians and/or white people; the lame-stream media just doesn't want to talk about it. Wonder why?
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