Land expropriation and land reform in Namibia

Abstract

Abstract provided by author

Since Namibia gained independence, the question of land ownership was of great importance. The colonial and apartheid regimes under the German and South African administrations left post-colonial Namibia a divided land in terms of the ownership of commercial farms. The majority of the commercial farms in Namibia are in the hands of the white people. Black people before independence were not provided the opportunities to also engage in commercial farming activities. The SWAPO party government has taken its position on land; the government's objective is to restore equilibrium in society by giving black people a chance to also own land in Namibia

The Ministry of Land and Resettlement is in charge of the land reform process. So far the government has been applying the willing buyer willing seller principle which has proven to be insufficient. At the moment the government has set up the land resettlement programme and the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme. These programmes are aimed at giving the previously disadvantaged people the rights to also won land. The Minister of Lands and Resettlement is allowed under the Constitution to expropriate land if it is in the public interest and payment of just compensation. The Agricultural and Commercial Land Reform Act of 1995 outlined how the expropriation procedure should take place

In 2008 the High Court of Namibia passed down judgment in the Kessl case1. This judgment said that the decision by the government to expropriate land belonging to the applicants was a violation of the constitution and should be set aside. The intent of this study is to provide an analysis as to why the land reform process has been slow in Namibia by looking the judgment in this case. It could be possible that this judgment could hamper the whole process in a number of ways to be discussed in the paper.