Namibia Takes Key Step in Land Reform

[Im The Truth]

Namibia Takes Key Step in Land Reform


NAMIBIA: Key step in land reform completed

WINDHOEK, 1 October (IRIN) - The Namibian government has
completed the valuation of commercial farmland in the
country, a key element of its land reform programme.

Minister of lands, resettlement and rehabilitation,
Hifikepunye Pohamba, handed over the first provisional
valuation roll compiled by his ministry, listing some 12,509
farms and plots, to the presiding officer of the Valuation
Court, which will sit next month for two weeks.

Copies of the list were made public last month at 18
different places countrywide. Farm owners could raise
objections to the valuation of their land and inform
officials of corrections regarding names and other details on
the list.

"About 2,738 people inspected the roll and only 285
objections were raised, which will be heard at the Valuation
Court," Pohamba said.

"After the court hearings, which last two weeks, the
valuation roll will go to the ministry of finance for billing
[the farmers] and eventual collection of the land tax", the
minister added.

The new tax is meant, in part, to fund the state's
acquisition of agricultural land for resettling thousands
of "land-hungry" and previously disadvantaged Namibians.

"Collecting the tax will definitely happen during this
financial year, which ends next February," Nashilonga
Shivute, director of valuation and estates management in the
lands ministry told IRIN. "Churches owning land will be
exempted."

The land tax rates start at 0.75 percent of unimproved site
value per hectare for a single farm, increasing by 0.25
percent for each additional Namibian-owned farm. The land tax
for foreign landowners starts at 1.75 percent of the site
value for the first farm and increases by 0.25 percent for
each additional property.

Farmers were mostly satisfied with the way their farms were
assessed, an official of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU)
told IRIN.

"The NAU, however, wanted the list of the farms available for
a bit longer than three weeks for scrutiny. The period was
too short in our view," said Sakkie Coetzee, chief executive
officer of the NAU.

In support of land reform, the British government donated US
$179,000 on Wednesday to assist the Permanent Technical Team
(PTT) in the ministry of lands, which is busy drafting a
strategic land redistribution plan that is expected to be
finalised by November.

"My government has noted the Namibian government's clear and
regular statements that land reform in Namibia will be
carried out according to the country's laws, and in
accordance with the terms of her constitution", said Alasdair
MacDermott, British High Commissioner to Namibia. "My
government is also aware of the urgency of moving forward on
this issue", he added.

The funds were provided through the Department for
International Development (DFID) and will be channelled via
the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ), which mainly
funds the work of the PTT.

Pohamba, the ruling party's presidential candidate in next
month's elections, commended Britain's support.

"It comes at the right time, when the Namibian government
faces an acute shortage of funds to implement the land reform
programme," he said. "I call upon other development partners
and stakeholders at large to emulate this excellent example
demonstrated by the governments of Britain and Germany".

Namibia has a willing-buyer, willing-seller policy for
acquiring land for redistribution, but earlier this year the
government announced it would expropriate farms, as too few
had been offered for purchase.

Since independence in 1990, the government has purchased 118
farms for US $105 million and resettled 37,100 individuals
out of an estimated 243,000 "land-hungry" Namibians.
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