Africa-Press – Namibia. The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) has called for an urgent review of Namibia’s land reform programme, arguing that the current system disadvantages thousands of residents living in informal settlements.
This was said by LPM Member of Parliament, Utaara Mootu, during a recent rally held in Mariental over the weekend. She told supporters that despite the availability of vast land in and around the town, most of it remains in the hands of politically connected individuals while ordinary residents continue to live in shacks. “For a very long time, our communities have endured land injustice that has left thousands of Namibians cramped in informal settlements,” read the statement.
According to her, more than 6,100 people currently live in Mariental’s informal settlements, mostly in the southern part of the town while only 1,100 applicants are on the waiting list for formal residential plots.
“Our brothers and sisters in Aimablaagte, Takarania and other informal settlement areas are Namibians who deserve a proper Aimablaagte,” she said.Mootu stressed that one way to address the crisis is through the implementation of the Flexible Land Tenure System, which introduces a “starter title” a document giving families legal rights to the plot they occupy and protecting them from eviction. “These steps show that we can innovate to make land ownership possible for our society; however, progress is painfully slow due to lack of funding and lack of political will from the ruling party’s centralised system,” she said.
She added that restorative land justice should also include secure rights to communal and ancestral lands. “We demand a people-centred land reform that prioritises those living in shacks over those who are politically connected,” she said.
Mootu said LPM is also concerned about the urgent need for a Basic Income Grant (BIG), arguing that a monthly grant would help ordinary Namibians meet their day-to-day needs amid rising living costs. She said now Namibian can’t afford to buy basic goods.
“Prices of everything have gone up while salaries and opportunities have not. We live in one of the most unequal societies in the world, and that’s not me saying it. Even the World Bank says Namibia has a Gini coefficient above 59, meaning among the highest on earth. This means a few people are extremely rich while a massive number are extremely poor,” she said. She explained that LPM’s call for BIG is driven by this inequality crisis. “When LPM advocates for BIG, it is because of this crisis. Let me explain: BIG is a monthly income that each adult Namibian would receive from the State, unconditionally. It creates an income floor, and nobody falls below it,” Montu explained.
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