This land is my land! Motions and emotions around land reform in Namibia Erika von Wietersheim 1 This study and publication was supported by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Namibia Office. Copyright: FES 2021 Cover photo: Kristin Baalman/Shutterstock.com Cover design: Clara Mupopiwa-Schnack All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the written permission of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. First published 2008 Second extended edition 2021 Published by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Namibia Office P.O. Box 23652 Windhoek Namibia ISBN 978-99916-991-0-3 Printed by John Meinert Printing (Pty) Ltd P.O. Box 5688 Windhoek / Namibia [email protected] 2 To all farmers in Namibia who love their land and take good care of it in honour of their ancestors and for the sake of their children 3 4 Acknowledgement I would like to thank the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation Windhoek, in particular its director Mr. Hubert Schillinger at the time of the first publication and Ms Freya Gruenhagen at the time of this extended second publication, as well as Sylvia Mundjindi, for generously supporting this study and thus making the publication of ‘This land is my land’ possible. Furthermore I thank Wolfgang Werner for adding valuable up-to-date information to this book about the development of land reform during the past 13 years. My special thanks go to all farmers who received me with an open heart and mind on their farms, patiently answered my numerous questions - and took me further with questions of their own - and those farmers and interview partners who contributed to this second edition their views on the progress of land reform until 2020. I wish them all well for the future. I am grateful to government ministers and officials, as well as representatives of farmers’ and farm workers’ unions, for their time and interest during interviews and discussions. I also thank Dr. Volker Winterfeldt of the Sociology Department of the University of Namibia and his students for their valuable input. I would furthermore like to express my deep gratitude to friends and colleagues who helped me along while I was doing research and writing this book: Jorge Machin Labayrade and my daughter Julia who to set up numerous interviews and provided highly appreciated technical support with tape recorders and cameras; Katharina, Ursula and Neshani who accompanied me on some of my trips and were wonderful friends and persons to talk with; Dr. Lucy Steinitz, Klaus Rennack, Helga Falk and my daughters Simone and Julia who have, at one stage or another, contributed towards the development of the text by critically reading through it and providing technical support; Dr. Matthias Rick, who provided honest and insightful criticism and much needed encouragement throughout the writing of this book; Vehaka Tjimune, Festus Tjikuua, the late Neshani Andreas, and the late Reimer Thiessen who patiently answered my never ending queue of questions and discussed controversial or difficult issues, sometimes until late at night; Steve Felton who partly edited the text; and my daughter Angela who spent many hours correcting the manuscript and who provided valuable comments. ---------------------------------------------- Erika von Wietersheim April 2021 5 6 Contents Preface to the first edition 2008 ................................................................................13 Preface to the second extended edition 2021..........................................................15 Author’s Note ..............................................................................................................17 PART 1: THIS LAND IS MY LAND! .............................................................................19 “For sure there are strong feelings” - This study: why and how........................... 21 “I am the owner of this farm”.........................................................................................21 Land inside out .............................................................................................................23 Stories instead of interviews .........................................................................................25 5,000 kilometres and 50 interviews ..............................................................................27 Nomenclature and bias.................................................................................................30 Land reform so far - Leaving the past behind .........................................................31 The heritage of the past................................................................................................31 Too much or too little history? .......................................................................................32 The two instruments of land reform ..............................................................................33 “We had animals, money and experience” - A model resettlement farm .....................35 “We all have one aim – and that is farming” - A model affirmative action farm ............41 Land reform so far ........................................................................................................44 Further developments of land reform since 2007 until 2021 ........................................46 The need to find a forward looking approach - The Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Claims of Ancestral Land Rights and Restitution .......................................55 Wounded by the past - Collective memory and ‘struggle think’ ............................65 The prime emotion........................................................................................................66 Double dispossession...................................................................................................68 Impressions of an artist ................................................................................................69 A hundred years of violence .........................................................................................70 “Because of the struggle” .............................................................................................72 The inflation of the meaning of land .............................................................................73 ‘Struggle think’ and collective emotions ........................................................................75 The yearning for ancestral land - Arguing with history ..........................................77 “We got democracy, but not the land” ...........................................................................78 Shattered hopes ...........................................................................................................79 7 Cattle, land and identity ................................................................................................82 Cattle and the humanness of a person.........................................................................83 Land and ancestral graves ..........................................................................................85 Symbolic occupation of land ........................................................................................86 German farmers on ancestral land ..............................................................................88 Attempts to understand ................................................................................................91 The logic of land rights .................................................................................................94 An end to tribal policies ................................................................................................95 White wounds and fears - A hundred years of gain and loss ................................99 Victims of changing politics ..........................................................................................99 The first land reform in Namibia .................................................................................101 Not another Zimbabwe! ..............................................................................................102 The fear of losing one’s ‘Heimat’ ................................................................................104 Living in uncertainty ...................................................................................................107 Coming to terms with expropriation ............................................................................109 Trust in the government ..............................................................................................110 Learning from the Zimbabwean experience ............................................................... 111 The fears of farm workers - Losers on all fronts ...................................................113 Content with a life without alternatives ......................................................................114 A fear with a difference ...............................................................................................116 Farm workers and land reform ...................................................................................117 The sensitive topic of nepotism ..................................................................................119 Moving beyond the black and white divide - Understanding and healing ..........121 Exactly the