The Landless Peoples Movement party has decided to take up the fight for the community, who have been living on the farm for a very long time. Eneas Emvula, spokesperson for the party says that vulnerable Namibians should be bullied through state mechanisms.
“The issue here is an eviction order that was served to the Hai //om San community at the farm unit A, known as farm Arcadia. About 60 km north of Grootfontein,” Emvula adds.

He describes that about 25 people face the prospect of losing their right to live there. The farm measures about 1 450 hectares and has been a generational place for the community.

“Now, the deputy sheriff from the Grootfontein area, on behalf of someone by the name of Lazarus Katjimune, issued the notice to the community,” he said.

The eviction was generated in 2015 and the notice was only delivered this year, on 14 June Emvula says.

Eagle FM has also seen the same set of documents that Emvula has in possession.

Emvula indicates that the previous inhabitant of the farm, Mr Hiho, had left in the early 2000s and the San community decided to apply for the land as well. The community had formed a group known as the Old Age group as there senior citizens among them, to motivate their case to continue staying there and to have access to grazing land.

Some of the community members were born in 1939, which includes that senior citizens are going to be dispossessed.

“Now, the whole issue stems from the ministry of lands officials that have been responding to the request of the community. They have been bounced between officials, and offices, and their request was shot down by specific officials. And sent them back to the regional authority in Otjozondjupa for referral.”

On the question of whether those Namibians with means to get their way, are walking over those that are defenseless, Emvula agreed that it is so.
“It’s a definite yes. On top of that, the community has sought to establish whether this Mr. Katjimune does in fact already own commercial farms in the area of Ovitoto. We have the names of the supposed farms that the community supplied to us,” he adds.

According to Emvula, it seems that someone that already has farmland is targeting the land of vulnerable Namibians.

“Our MPs will address this in the parliament in order to establish what the ministry would do to improve these matters, especially in a case like this.”