Namibian farm workers often destitute as farms change hands

The plight of Namibian farm workers, often illustrated in reports of eviction as a result of change of ownership or resettlement, appears to be ongoing. The media have covered cases of these workers being dumped on roadsides with their belongings and left to fend for themselves.

Some time ago agreement was reached on a minimum wage for these often-exploited workers, both past and present, and this was a step forward. But they still have little security of tenure, especially when it comes to change of ownership, with new proprietors not prepared to take responsibility for those they find on farms, often along with their families.

Otjiku farm, which changed hands between the previous white farm owner and the new black owner, is a case in point. The new owner, according to media reports at the time, said he did not need the workers he found on the farm and brought in his own. The workers were then dropped by the roadside and camped there for months as they had nowhere else to go. The trade unions representing farm workers had a lot to say about the dumping of the Otjiku farm workers.

But according to recent news reports, another group of farmworkers is to swell the ranks of the countless homeless and poor of the country with the takeover by government for resettlement purposes of a commercial farm in the Otjiwarongo district. Ironically, the two farms in question, Marburg and Okorusu, were expropriated for the resettlement of disadvantaged Namibians.

It is important that the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement formulate a definite policy on how to deal with farm workers found on expropriated land. It is both unacceptable and contradictory that some are evicted while others are resettled on the farms in question. Since these are farms for resettlement, an accommodation needs to be found to make a place for those who not only have lived on that same land for many years, but have also worked it, often for commercial purposes, and know the land better than others who are being resettled there. Perhaps they should even be given preference in such cases.

According to the workers of Marburg and Okorusu, they have been told to get off the land, in this case by workers purportedly representing the new owners. If this is the case, it is a sad indictment of a policy that is supposed to benefit the disadvantaged people, rather than add to the unemployment problem by evicting them in the first place.

Often it is those who are being resettled, who, once again ironically, would actually be able to afford to purchase land through the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme of Agribank. It is unacceptable that the poor must make way for those who can afford to buy private land.

It is important for the unions, and others working with resettlement issues, to investigate and research the number of cases where such evictions have occurred, and to come up with solutions that can benefit the poor and disadvantaged, and in particular, the workers who have been on those properties for years.

The Namibian