AT the onset of the First World War in 1914, the newly independent dominion of South Africa (like Rhodesia) rallied to the British cause.
South West Africa was the only German target in the immediate region.
At the end of the war, South West Africa was placed under a British mandate by the League of Nations, with the South African Government being entrusted with the administration of the territory.
This began the gradual process by which South West Africa became progressively more closely integrated with its larger South African neighbour, until it was in many ways regarded as the fifth province of the South African Union.
Following the Second World War, the region’s prosperity increased, largely due to a buoyant market for diamonds and beef.
The wealth accrued almost exclusively to the white settler-population in the southern part of the protectorate.
Meanwhile, the distress of the indigenous population was aggravated by the introduction of South Africa’s apartheid laws after 1948.
From the late 1940s, a lengthy clash of will had begun between South Africa and the United Nations. Indigenous African leaders in South West Africa petitioned the UN against South African rule.
Meanwhile, South Africa disputed the authority of the UN in the matter.
Eventually, the issue was argued at length before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
In 1967, the UN eventually asserted its sovereignty and actively campaigned for the liberation of the region and began to refer to it by its local name, Namibia.
The local organisation, the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), was, by now, also working actively towards the same end, that of independence.
In the first democratic elections held in 1989, SWAPO won 57 percent of the vote.
South Africa’s campaign to suppress SWAPO during the 1980s escalated into a debilitating war, that reached north into Angola, draining the energy and resources of the South African Government, already beset by increasing internal unrest.
Approximately 2 500 South African soldiers died in the conflict that cost
US$1 billion a year to sustain.
In 1988, South Africa’s efforts finally collapsed.
A ceasefire was agreed, providing for the simultaneous withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola and of South African forces from South West Africa.
Finally, the government in Pretoria gave up its policy of stalling on Namibia’s independence.
Land ownership in pre-colonial central and southern South West Africa was intermittent; with both the indigenous Herero and Nama people claiming the land being in usage at the time. The Nama people of Namibia have an old axiom:
“…Where the foot of our hunter sets — there is Namaland; wherever my cattle grassed (grazed) — there is Hereroland.”
The notion of permanent ownership of land in the territory of South West Africa was only introduced in the wake of colonisation.
Consequently, the dispossession of land by European settlers from indigenous Africans began in the 19th Century with the arrival of German traders and colonists to the areas being incorporated as German South-West Africa.
Currently, land reform in Namibia is an important political and economic topic.
It consists of two different strategies — resettlement and the transfer of commercially viable agricultural land to the hitherto marginalised population.
Resettlement is aimed at improving the lives of displaced or dispossessed previously disadvantaged Namibians.
Farms obtained by government for resettlement purposes are usually split into several sections with dozens of families being resettled on what had previously been one farm.
Transfer of commercial agricultural land is not carried out directly by government.
Would-be farmers with a previously disadvantaged background can obtain farms privately or through Affirmative Action loans.
In both cases, the ‘willing-buyer-willing-seller’ principle applies.
Namibia encompassed about 4 000 commercial farms.
Since independence, almost 1 000 of these farms have been attained by previously disadvantaged Namibians; some by means of private transactions while others through government-facilitated loans.
It is anticipated that until 2020, a further 15 million hectares of commercial agricultural land are to be transferred to indigenous Namibians, a third of this area being for resettlement purposes while two-thirds are for agricultural production.
Upon gaining its independence on March 21 1990, the country inherited a colonial division of land in which 3 500 farmers, who were almost entirely white settlers, owned approximately 50 percent of the country’s agricultural land.
These farmers constituted only roughly 0,2 percent of the total national population.
As it was in Zimbabwe, land reform was one of the biggest goals for many who participated in Namibia’s liberation struggle.
Prior to the first democratic Namibian parliamentary election in 1989, the leaders of the liberation movement SWAPO committed themselves to “…transfer some of the land from the few with too much of it, to the landless majority.”
As outlined by the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act of 1995, Namibia’s land reform process is based on three strategies — resettlement, loans and communal land as follows:
l Resettlement: The Namibian Government buys farms from commercial farmers and allocates them to previously disadvantaged people;
l Loans: A state-owned Agri-bank grants loans with interest below market level to the previously disadvantaged population.
l Communal land, which all belongs to the state, is parcelled into small units and distributed to landless people by traditional leaders.
Large commercial farms obtained by the Namibian Government for resettlement purposes are usually split into several sections with dozens of families resettled on what had previously been one large individual farm.
According to an independent report, from 1990 to 2007, the government had resettled approximately 800 indigenous farmers on land bought for redistribution. This was approximately 12 percent of commercial farmland in the country, or less than one percent per annum.
Namibian citizens who do not yet own farmland may obtain a portion of a farm for resettlement if they belong to the previously disadvantaged population. In the allocation process, females score higher than males, people 25 years of age or older score higher than those below 25, and people with farming experience score higher than those without.
The government generally has avoided expropriating farms. Farms to be reallocated to previously disadvantaged people are mainly bought from farm owners who wish to sell their farms on the ‘willing-buyer-willing-seller’ principle. Any farmer wishing to sell his farm on the free market must first offer his farm to the government.
In 2005, the Namibian Government began expropriating commercial farms. Although only five farms had been expropriated by 2008, and a further 30 farm owners had received letters asking them to sell to government, this move has instilled fears in the white commercial farming community and has discouraged further investment.
Dr Michelina Rudo Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian researcher, industrial design consultant lecturer and specialist hospitality interior decorator. She is a published author in her field. For comments e-mail: linamanucci@gmail.com