Land reform in Namibia

Would-be farmers with a previously disadvantaged background obtain farms privately or through affirmative action loans.

Heinrich Vedder writes:[2] As the Nama said: Where the foot of our hunter sets there is Namaland, so said the Herero: wherever my cattle grassed there is Hereroland.

The notion of permanent ownership of land in the territory of South West Africa was only introduced in the wake of colonialisation.

10 bantustans were established, the remaining territory, including much of the agriculturally viable land, was reserved for Whites.

[3] Prior to the first democratic election in 1989, liberation movement leader SWAPO committed itself to "transfer[ing] some of the land from the few with too much of it to the landless majority".

[3] Namibia's land reform process is based on three strategies, outlined by the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act of 1995:[4] Farms obtained by government for resettlement purposes are usually split into several sections, and dozens of families are being resettled on what had previously been one farm.

The government aims to influence the market by imposing higher tax rates on large or excessive landholdings or on farmland that is not being used.

The government invested considerable effort in consultation with key stakeholders including white farmers, and succeeded in securing their general agreement.