Stakeholders begin discussions on land reform in Southern Africa

Windhoek, Namibia, 29 August 2007 - About 120 land stakeholders from civil society, governments, NGOs, development partners and international organizations today began a three-day sub regional consultative workshop to reach consensus on the specificities of land tenure, distribution, utilization and security processes in Southern Africa.

Participants at the workshop will identify key land-related issues in Southern Africa which can inform land policy and institutional reforms. They will identify gaps in knowledge, institution and resources from ongoing land initiatives in southern Africa and agree on the elements necessary for the development of benchmarks and indicators for assessing performance of land processes in the sub region.

The workshop is the first of five subregional assessments planned by the African Union Commission (AUC), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), to facilitate land policy reform in Africa and design a framework to secure land rights, enhance productivity and secure livelihoods on the continent.

ECA?s Chief of Environment and Sustainable Development, Ousmnna Laye who spoke on behalf of the Commission?s Director of Food Security and Sustainable Development, Josue Dione, said the majority of conflicts in Africa were related to failures in the systems related to the governance, control and use of land and natural resources.

He said in Southern Africa, the inability to properly address a history of unequal land distribution had led to racial and political tensions which hampered economic development.

In some of these countries, minority populations still own disproportionaley high percentage of the land, usually relegating the indigenous populations to marginal lands,? he said.

Declaring the workshop open, Namibia?s Minister for Land and Resettlement, Mr. Jerry Ekandjo, said the primary aim of his country?s liberation struggle was to take full control of Namibia?s natural resources and means of production. ?Our struggle was aimed at regaining our land, which has been dispossessed through brutal and inhuman methods,? he said.

With support from the Rockefeller Foundation and UNDP, the workshop was organized by the consortium of the African Union Commission, the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank in collaboration with the Government of Namibia and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).