Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE POVERTY AGENDA
Land reform has been a contentious issue in Southern Africa (including in Namibia, where most of the arable land
is owned by white farmers), with the government seeking to redistribute land to landless black Namibians. The
Namibian government has been pursuing a policy of 'willing seller, willing buyer', whereby they have com-
pensated those who have voluntarily chosen to sell their farms.
The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC), a nongovernmental human rights organisation based in Windhoek, says
that the government's resettlement scheme has 'placed 800 farms in black hands in the 17 years since independen-
ce'. It is the equivalent of about 12% of all farms. The Namibian Agricultural Union (NAU) puts the figure at
over 1000 farms or the equivalent of 16%. However, there are concerns that the pace of the reform is too slow.
The LAC report also states that no resettlement farms are doing well, and that black farmers get subdivided por-
tions of previous farms to support the same numbers of livestock, giving them no chance to be profitable. In fact,
the scheme amounts to swapping one form of poverty for another.
Despite calls for the speed of the process to be increased, the NAU says disadvantaged Namibians currently
own more than 9 million hectares of commercial farm land in the country, nearly two-thirds of the government's
resettlement target for 2020. It argues that land reform is a process on track and needs time.
The past few years have seen politicians call for compulsory land acquisitions to increase the pace of land re-
form, but sceptics say there are few economic benefits to be had from such a policy. Although in principle many
people support land reform, Namibia's arid environment is badly suited to a system of smallholdings farmed by
poor Namibians who have neither the economic nor technical resources to develop the land. The real social issue,
some say, is not so much land reform, but the government's failure to provide work opportunities for ordinary
Namibians.
Whatever the problems, it is clear that most Namibians don't relish the economic and social chaos in neigh-
bouring Zimbabwe. As an article in the Namibian so succinctly says, 'We emulate them at our peril.'
The Namibian People
Namibia's population in 2012 was estimated at 2,165,828 people, with an annual popula-
tion growth rate of 0.82%. This figure takes into account the effects of excess mortality
due to AIDS, which became the leading cause of death in Namibia in 1996. At approxim-
ately two people per square kilometre, Namibia has one of Africa's lowest population
densities.
The population of Namibia comprises 12 major ethnic groups. Half the people come
from the Owambo tribe (50%), with other ethnic groups making up a relatively small per-
centage of the population: Kavango (9%), Herero/Himba (7%), Damara (7%), Caprivian
(4%), Nama (5%), Afrikaner and German (6%), Baster (6.5%), San (1%) and Tswana
(0.5%).
 
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