Govt misses land resettlement target

The land reform ministry has failed to meet its land resettlement target during the 2024/25 financial year. Only six previously disadvantaged Namibians were resettled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform against a target of 25. This is according to auditor general Junias Kandjeke in a report on the accounts of the ministry’s department of agriculture and land reform. Kandjeke says the ministry fell short of its target by 19 beneficiaries, raising concerns about how the government manages and monitors its resettlement programme. “The key performance indicators were materially underachieved, indicating weaknesses in implementation and performance monitoring of the resettlement programme,” the report states. The resettlement programme aims to give previously disadvantaged Namibians access to agricultural land.

These findings come after the government launched the Revised National Resettlement Policy (for 2023 to 2033) in June to improve fairness, transparency and productivity in land reform. At the launch, agriculture, fisheries, water and land reform minister Inge Zaamwani said the policy would focus on more than allocating land, adding that the government also wants resettled farmers to earn a living from their land, produce more food and create jobs. Last month, Popular Democratic Movement president McHenry Venaani called for changes to Namibia’s land resettlement programme, saying the current system is failing to improve agricultural production. Venaani criticised the government’s practice of allocating farms through 99-year leases, saying beneficiaries should not continue occupying land without using it for productive farming. He suggested reallocating unproductive farms to individuals capable of farming the land and generating income.…