Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab on Wednesday defended his government’s move to expropriate white farmers at a regional meeting on land management in Southern Africa., saying it is "doing the right thing" to redress an imbalance in land ownership.

"There is no crisis nor any land grab in Namibia ... the government is doing the right thing," said Guribab

Namibian Land Minister Hifikepunye Pohamba last week sent letters to about 10 white farm owners telling them to "make an offer to sell their property to the state and to enter into further negotiations in that regard".

Some of the farmers who received the letters were identified as Hilde Renate Wiese, a German-speaking Nami-bian; B Ruch, a German national who bought his farm in 1974; and a Belgian owner of a farm.

The farmers were given 14 days to respond. THE NAU already requested an extension of this period.

The move raised concerns that Namibia may be heading down the same path as Zimbabwe where thousands of white farm owners were forced to give up their land to blacks.

Earlier Namibia’s ambassador to Germany, who sought to dispel concerns after some of the farmers targeted by the notices were German nationals or German speakers.
Gurirab said that the farmers who have been told to sell their land are not without recourse and have the right to appeal before a court if they are dissatisfied with the compensation offered. But he emphasised that the crux of the issue is that the bulk of suitable land for agriculture in Namibia "is in the hands of white commer-cial farmers". "That is the rub," said the prime minister.

The Namibian government has bought 130 farms under its willing-seller-willing-buyer policy and about 700 other farms have changed hands from white to black owners through special bank loans, said Gurirab.

Later this year a land tax will be introduced to generate more funds to buy additional land, he added.