Absolutely astonished

B.A. BASSON WRITES:

I was absolutely astonished when I heard over NBC TV News on Tuesday evening, 5 March 2024 from the mouth of Hon. Minister Calle Schlettwein that the “draft” Revised Resettlement Policy of 2023 was approved by Cabinet sometime early in January 2024.

There was a consultative meeting on the review of the policy on 6 November 2023 at Bird’s Mansions Hotel, Keetmanshoop. There was a certain deputy director, Mr. Nangolo, who stood in for the director of RRPI, directorate, who was absent.

This Mr. Nangolo told us that it was a “draft” policy and even promised to come back sometime in February 2024 with recommendations made at that meeting. Mr. Nangolo maintained that the objective of the meeting was to call for policy and legal framework reforms.

He then focused on quite cumbersome application processes and qualification criteria and underscored endless squabbles about water, grazing, etc. He asked the attendees what types of speedy remedies and solutions they could have proffered. He condemned the long wait after applying for resettlement farms.

The attendees cited corruption and bribery as the order of the day. Equally, serious concerns were raised about the appointment of caretakers, who at the end refuse to evacuate the farms. Furthermore, aggrieved and affected resettled farmers wanted to know what the exact role of the Land Tribunal was.

The attendees made submissions that every unit be provided with adequate water supply before allocation to beneficiaries. There were also concerns about unoccupied land, barren land, and virgin land, each in its own context and perspective. The plight of the generational workers was another serious bone of contention.

According to the new policy, applicants will be categorised along the following rationales: the high economic value model, the moderate economic value model, and the low economic value model, coupled with agricultural qualifications, agricultural experiences, age, gender, main target groups, literacy, number of livestock, gross income per annum, etc.

The criterion gives one the impression that the policy is tailor-made for a certain group of society or economic class, contrary to the provisions of the Namibian Constitution as enshrined in Article 10(2). The attendees called for a second round of consultations, as they were not happy with the document in its current form. The meeting strongly condemned the concept of preferential dual allocation to certain resettlement applicants and condemned the justification for such allocations.

Lastly, the attendees once again condemned corrupt practices and questioned the competency level of the Resettlement Committee members, wondering if every 3rd to 4th application has to end up in the high court or the Land Tribunal. There was also a very compelling proposal to add on herd value as an integral part of collateral. It appears that all those good submissions and recommendations fell on deaf ears because the minister announced that the policy will be implemented as of April 2024. So, they took us for a good excursion ride.

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