Resources Hamper Land Reform in //Karas

Land

The land reform ministry's regional head in the //Karas region, Albertus Engelbrecht, says shortages of transport and limited financial resources hamper service delivery.

He said the regional office has already depleted its operational budget of N$70 000 for the 2017/2018 financial year, of which the bulk was spent on vehicle maintenance.

Engelbrecht stated that the office, which is manned by 12 staff members, has only two official vehicles. Officials are thus currently unable to travel to resettlement farms in the region.

Furthermore, he revealed that the budget of N$50 000 for subsistence and travel allowance had been depleted, as well as the budget of N$40 000 that had been earmarked for holding regional resettlement committee and land board meetings.

The office spends on average N$6 000 to hold a meeting, and the region is required to meet six times annually.

"We don't want to complain, but we are saying we need sufficient resources if we want to successfully devolve to the //Karas Regional Council under the decentralisation programme," he remarked.

The regional head added that government did not acquire resettlement farms in the region during the current financial year, although some commercial farmers had offered to sell their farms.

"Of the 16 farms government had acquired during the previous financial year, 10 were bought in the //Karas region. Therefore, government has now perhaps decided to focus on buying farms in other regions," he added.

The government has since the inception of the land distribution process bought 89 farms in the region to date.

Engelbrecht also highlighted the invasion and illegal sub-leasing of state-owned farms, unfilled positions of key staff, and the lack of human capacity-building as some of the challenges the region faces.

"Although farm invasions in the region are few, it is of great concern, and we are working on a strategy on how to deal with it," he stated.

The Namibian reported that two farms in the region had been illegally invaded over the past two years by communal farmers.

They claimed they had invaded the farms out of frustration at being landless after submitting numerous applications for resettlement without success.

In both cases, the land reform ministry has applied to the High Court for an eviction order to have the illegal farm occupants, who on their part had filled notices to defend them, removed.

The regional head highlighted awareness sessions conducted in all traditional authority areas, the performance management system implementation and the SATCo dispute hearing and arbitration, which had cost taxpayers N$4 875, as some of the achievements.

Engelbrecht then recommended to the regional leadership to revive the constituency development regional committee to enhance coordination and development in the region, establish a geographic information system for improved spatial planning, increase revenue-generation and/or collection for //Karas, and assist in the signing of lease agreements by the //Karas Regional Council.