Zimbabwe has sent six land evaluators to Namibia in a move that could accelerate a planned expropriation of white-owned farms. They arrived in Windhoek this week to advise officials on how to carry out land redistribution, the newspaper The Namibian reported. Ndali-Che Kamati, the Namibian ambassador to Harare, said it was hoped that President Robert Mugabe's regime would be able to help the government of President Sam Nujoma. "We just started implementing our land reform and in that regard we have a lot to learn from the Zimbabwean experience," Mr Kamati told the Zimbabwean Government-controlled daily The Herald.
| Sigh, it just writes itself, doesn't it? |
About 4000 white farmers own about half of Namibia's arable land. Since the land reform began in 1990, 118 farms have been taken bought by the Government and 37,100 people have been resettled. In Zimbabwe the land seizures have been violent, with Mugabe supporters grabbing more than 90 per cent of previously white-owned farms as well as land owned by some black farmers. The country's agricultural output has decreased by so much it has been forced to rely on international food aid for three years.
| And this is the goal Namibia has set for itself? |
Mr Nujoma has copied many of Mr Mugabe's practices, including tirades against gays, sending troops to Congo's war, building a lavish presidential palace and altering the constitution to extend his time in power. Although he recently said he would not seek a fourth term, it is believed he intends to speed up land redistribution to ensure his SWAPO party wins the next election.
| Studying at the feet of the master. |
The Zimbabwean land specialists will suggest how to determine the compensation to be offered for developments on the commercial farms.
| "We'll make them an offer they can't refuse." |
Zimbabwe has refused to pay compensation for land it has seized from white farmers, on the grounds that the land was originally stolen from the African people. Mr Mugabe said his government would pay compensation only for improvements such as buildings and wells, but in practice this has not been done. The arrival of the Zimbabweans has prompted speculation that the Namibian Government may seize land. Latest estimates suggest it will take 40 years before half of the white-owned land is in the hands of poor black Namibians.
| But only two years before it's in the hands of Sam's thugs, er, supporters. |
An Institute for Public Research study said the Government's land policies had led to only 1 per cent of commercial land being redistributed a year. This meant the issue was "unlikely to be resolved soon" and would "continue to hold back national economic development by aggravating racial tension and creating uncertainty".
| "We need to speed up the plunge into the abyss." |
Namibia recently said it would be expropriating land for resettlement purposes. The study called for clear targets. "Is 50 per cent of total commercial farmland sufficient within a generation or should it be 75 per cent within 10 years? What is a politically acceptable racial balance?"
| "How much can we steal before we have to board that plane just ahead of the mob?" |
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