Posted on 02/22/2007 5:22:57 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
THE Ministry of Lands and Resettlement has advertised two farms for resettlement without the foreign-born owner's knowledge.
The first resettlement applicant has already arrived for a "farm inspection", The Namibian learnt yesterday.
The advertisement appeared in a Government publication last Friday, offering the two farms Wyoming and Kansas, situated about 250 kilometres south-east of Windhoek, for resettlement purposes.
The owner, retired eye specialist Dr Rolf Schindler, is a German national who arrived in Namibia in 1985 and has permanent residence here.
For a number of years, Schindler was the only eye specialist in the country.
He is the third farm owner to have his land forcibly expropriated.
The farms Ongombo West, Marburg and Okorusu were confiscated in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
Each of Schindler's two 5 000-hectare farms near Nina have been carved up into three portions measuring approximately 1 600 hectares each.
Schindler, who bought the two farms in 2002, said he was unaware of the advertisement.
"I was very surprised when a man arrived on Friday in a company car wanting to look around on one of the farms, telling me he had applied to be settled there," Schindler told The Namibian.
"I bought the farms for my retirement," he said, "but now all those plans are shattered."
Schindler bought the two farms from an Austrian national, Erich Prenn, who obtained a waiver in 1998 from the Ministry of Lands after offering them for sale to Government.
At that time, the Ministry was not interested in acquiring the farms.
A farming neighbour of Schindler said one of farms, Kansas, was totally unsuitable for resettlement as it had no fenced camps or other farming infrastructure.
"Schindler has bought a lot of wild game and brought it there, but to actually farm there professionally with livestock would require substantial investment," the farmer told this newspaper.
Schindler will take the matter to the Lands Tribunal, as he is not satisfied with the price the Ministry has offered him for the farms.
He received a letter of expropriation in 2004.
About 20 other farmers received letters in the first wave of expropriation notices sent out by the Lands Ministry.
On August 12 last year, Schindler received a letter from Minister Jerry Ekandjo, telling him to vacate the farm just before Christmas.
This date was later extended to March 22 2007.
Schindler said the expropriation was not completed yet.
"I have not signed on the dotted line," he told The Namibian.
He would not disclose what price the Ministry offered him.
But Lands Minister Jerry Ekandjo saw the matter differently.
According to him the Ministry "has already paid 80 per cent of the sum offered to Dr Schindler".
Thus, he told The Namibian yesterday, the expropriation was already completed and therefore the Ministry had advertised the farms for resettlement.
"We even granted him extension until March 22, and after that he must leave the farm.
He stays there for free during that time, looking after the infrastructure."
The remaining 20 per cent of the purchase fee would be paid out to Schindler once an inspection after the handover date concluded that nothing was missing.
Another African success story in the making. This starvation fad is really catching on.
Drive the only eye doctor in the country out because he is white. That should be helpful. It's easier to control the masses if they are blind, ignorant and hungry.
Namibia was one of the few areas in Africa I had considered for hunting [the other was Tanzania]. I wouldn't hunt in either South Africa or Zimbabwe [which is fairly cheap] because I didn't want my money going to either gov't. Looks like I'll have to ad Namibia to the list.
Namimbia (AKA Rhodesia et al) was at one time the bread basket of Africa.
Wonder what changed?
So many parts of Africa are breath-takingly beautiful. Too bad it's dominated by bloodthirsty killers.
Anyone who buys land in Africa needs his eyes checked in the first place.
there is a reason that it is called the "dark continent".
Anyone who buys land in Africa needs his eyes checked in the first place.
Not really. Namibia was the former South West Africa, a German colony administered by South Africa after WW1 until independence. It's largely desert, at least the southern part. It's main claim to fame is the "Skeleton Coast" and truly huge diamond deposits. Looks like they want to follow Zimbabwe down the slippery slope, of course South Africa is headed that way too.
I guess they were impressed by Zimbabwe's success.
There is no faster way to poverty and starvation than the destruction of property rights. Faster even than war.
...because it has worked so well in Zimbabwe.
African-Americans are proud of the wrong half of their hyphenation.
It worked so well in Zimbabwe.
South-west Africa. Zimbabwe was Rhodesia.
You are right - I got Zimbabwe and Namibiya confused - they are all basket cases now, anyway.
Racism?
True. The most dangerous effect of colonialism in Africa has been the complete rejection of property rights upon which colonial regimes were founded.
That is to say, colonial regimes were founded on the rejection of property rights.
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