No security of tenure for farm workers

The recent forced eviction of about 30 farm workers, and the political storm that followed, has highlighted simmering tensions over land rights in Namibia. While Namibia has a "willing buyer-willing seller" land restitution policy to protect landowners, no laws protect farm workers from eviction. "There is no law to protect them - there is nothing," complained Norman Tjombe of Namibia's Legal Assistance Centre. "The government must try to get laws [in place]," he said. The farm workers and their families had lived on the farm Kalkpan near Gobabis, east of the capital Windhoek, for about 50 years. When the elderly owner became ill and moved to a retirement home, management of the farm was handed to his son-in-law who obtained a court order to have them evicted. Last week, police had to remove about 100 SWAPO supporters who descended on the farm in a show of solidarity with the evicted farm workers. And as tensions mounted, there were calls for the expropriation of the land. "Enough is enough," said Alfred Angula, secretary-general of the Namibia Farm Workers Union. "This is not the first case and somewhere we should stop it from happening. These people [the farm workers] didn't get a letter of dismissal - people think they can just do what they like. If other farm workers disagree with next year's minimum wage proposals will they be dismissed too?" Angula asked. "It is morally and ethically wrong to dump people on the road. Farms in Namibia are so big. What is wrong with a farmer setting aside four hectares for the farm workers?" he added. The Kalkpan farm workers had been treated well by the retired owner and had more cattle and goats than was normally found among farm workers. "However, their fortunes changed with the change of management," Angula said. The farm workers would have no money to tide them over as they were generally very poorly paid. "The farmers own them. Some get retrenchment packages of N $500 (US $50) for 20 year's work," he said. Namibia's National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) said protection from eviction should be extended beyond farm workers and should cover anybody who faced losing their home. "There are numerous instances in this country where persons and or groups have forcibly been evicted and are threatened [with] eviction from their homes or lands in the name of development," the NSHR said. "In order to deal with the widespread practice of forced eviction in this country, NSHR appeals to parliament to enact a law outlawing all forced evictions, whether perpetrated by private or public entities," the NGO continued. In response to the Gobabis crisis, the government decided on Wednesday that the farm workers could return to their homes until the matter was resolved. The Namibian newspaper reported that Labour Minister Marco Hausiku ruled out the possibility of the evicted workers being resettled under a government resettlement programme. There was already a long list of previously identified beneficiaries awaiting resettlement. Hausiku said SWAPO's suggestion that the land be expropriated was among a number of proposals that had been presented. But it was a "last-gasp option". The government had decided that "a legal instrument be established to end the eviction of farm labourers", The Namibian reported. "The Kalkpan issue is viewed by government in a very serious light. Government ... will make sure that it is addressed within the existing legal framework. I also want to ask all stakeholders to approach this matter with sober minds and restraint," Hausiku was quoted as saying. His ministry would submit proposals to cabinet next week. Farm workers in neighbouring South Africa have the Extension of Security Act of 1997 which protects the rights of farm owners and farm workers. In Zimbabwe, widely criticised for its fast-track land reform programme, evicted farm owners are forced by law to provide retrenchment packages for their farm workers.