Land reform in Namibia: Economic versus socio-political rationale

Since 1990, the Namibian Government has devoted itself, among other major issues, to a wide-ranging land reform programme with the main objective of reallocating part of the lands currently occupied by white farmers to the so-called "formerly disadvantaged people". As in South Africa and as in Zimbabwe at the beginning of its own land reform experience, Namibia's land reform programme has so far been based on the "willing buyer-willing seller" principle. According to this principle, all the farms acquired by the state for resettlement purposes to date have been purchased at market prices from willing sellers. This, together with the low number, high prices and poor quality of the farms offered to the government by these farmers, is slowing down the process considerably. In addition, most of the collective resettlement projects have shown major deficiencies from a production perspective. In such conditions the process cannot be described as a successful policy. Social and political factors appear to contradict economic reasoning, while pressures at different levels are pushing the Namibian Government towards an even more stringent land reform policy. This article explains how these socio-political factors interfere with Namibian land reform by putting the process at the centre of a heated debate.