Reply #6: Lessons on land reform [View All]

[seemslikeadream]

March 1, 2004

By the Editor

On the surface, there is nothing peculiar about the decision of the Namibian government to appropriate land from the current landowners, most of whom are white farmers, and give it to landless Africans in that country.

After all, the land hunger was one of the major motives that propelled Herman Toivo ja Toivo, Sam Nujoma and countless other freedom fighters to take up arms against the German colonisers and later the South African occupiers.

In line with United Nations resolution 435, Namibia obtained its independence in 1990 but the question of land - like in many other former colonies, notably Zimbabwe - was not dealt with adequately.

The euphoria of liberation and the excitement about freedom to vote in a nonracial system pushed some of the substantive issues such as land aside. There was a gentlemen's agreement that land would be distributed to the people on a willing seller, willing buyer arrangement. Given the need to protect private property, this was a sober approach to deal with a complex matter.

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