Taking stock of land reform in Namibia from 1990 to 2005.
Abstract
The land reform debate in Namibia has been predicated on a number of
questionable assumptions and is atypical of the scenarios presented by other
SADC countries. The one point of similarity is that the progress of Namibian
land reform has been very slow. The evidence suggests that land reform
has served as an expedient rhetorical device which the ruling party resorts
to as and when it suits its political agenda. It has also served as a means by
which high-ranking officials have enriched themselves at the expense of the
peasantry. Namibia’s financial commitment to land reform was negligible when
considered alongside some of its ruler’s more grandiose personal projects. This
article contends that land reform in Namibia has been a minor issue and was
always unlikely to compromise the political stability that has led to Namibia’s
robust performance as a tourism mecca.