Privatisation of communal land in the North gaining momentum

TENSION is brewing in the communal farming area of Omakango, east of Okongo in the Ohangwena Region, where ‘politically connected’ individuals have allegedly fenced off large tracts of grazing land.

The farmers who claim to have been affected are from the farming areas of Omupanda, Oiti Itoka, Ombwa yOmamanya, Ombwa yOmuuva, Ombwa yOmunghete, Odjele and Oshuudiya. 
Apart from illegal fencing there is an additional dispute about whether these areas fall under the Ondonga or Oukwanyama traditional authority.
The actions of the ‘politically connected’ farmers contravene the Communal Land Reform Act, which prohibits fencing of communal land without permission.
However, it has emerged that the fenced-off land ‘belongs’ to Tileinge Hapulile, who is said to have enclosed the land before the enactment of the Communal Land Reform Act.
The affected farmers have now threatened unspecified action to remove the fence to open up pasture for their animals.
One of the affected farmers who alerted The Namibian to the issue said that at least 4 000 to 5 000 head of cattle have been denied grazing because of Hapulile’s enclosure of communal land.
About 50 cattle are alleged to have died of hunger, because many farmers have to scavenge for grazing on mostly barren communal land.
The communal farming area east of Okongo has seen unprecedented settlement, mainly by communal farmers from the Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions in the 1990s, some of whom started fencing off land.
The affected farmers say the settlers of the 1990s claimed that they were given permission by the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority to settle in Omakango.
But the new entrants, who include Namibia Diamond Trading Company managing director Shihaleni Ellis Ndjaba, were allegedly given permission by Tileinge Hapulile, who claims to be the headman of the area. 
He claims to have been given such authority by the Ondonga Traditional Authority.
“With his newfound capacity and self-accorded powers, Hapulile started giving ‘permission’ and allocating pieces of land to several new entrants, who wasted no time in constructing their fences at an unprecedented scale,” says one concerned farmer, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ndjaba says he did nothing wrong as he was simply accommodated in a farming area  already fenced off by Hapulile.
“This is not something new. I know there have been people complaining about this issue but the fences were put before the Communal Land Reform Act. We are only accommodated inside the farm,” says Ndjaba.
The spokesperson of the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority, Andreas Naikaku, says  the Omakango issue is in the hands of the Ohangwena Police and the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement.
The secretary of Ondonga Traditional Authority, Joseph Asino, says the matter is news to the authority.
“If it was reported to the authority it was reported here through different channels. Unless perhaps we would make investigations to find out from Hapulile whether such claims have truth or not,” Asino says.
In terms of Communal Land Act, the erection of fences is restricted to homesteads, cattle pens, water troughs, and crop fields in communal areas.
The Act makes the erection of fences without proper authorisation a criminal offence punishable by a maximum N$4 000 fine or one year’s imprisonment or both.