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afrol News, 30 October - By Tinashe Madava Ministers of lands from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have said equitable land reform is the platform on which southern Africa can resuscitate its economies, as this should bring peace and political stability in the region. This emerged at a recent meeting of land ministers from nine southern African countries in Windhoek, Namibia, who sought to continue the search for a solution to the region's land reform problems. The meeting follows a decision at the organisation's heads of state meeting in Malawi last August which directed the ministers to seek urgent solutions that collectively address the land problem. In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the ministers said land reform programs should benefit blacks because white farmers had unfairly acquired most of the region's best land under European colonial rule. The ministers recommended that land reform should be incorporated as a core responsibility of the newly created Food Agriculture and Natural Resources directorate, which is to based at the SADC Headquarters in Gaborone. To this effect, the ministers agreed that a meeting of senior officials responsible for land reform in the region should be convened as soon as possible to develop concrete steps to implement their recommendations. Greater emphasis was placed on the issue that land and agrarian reform must include an integrated approach to rural development that is sustainable, broad-based and equitable, and addresses pressures and the need for land by urban populations. It was noted that there is "need for an equitable balance in addressing the land demands of the rural and urban poor on the one hand and the need to empower indigenous entrepreneurs on the other." - There is a need to create conditions for optimal utilisation of land by ensuring that settled farmers have access to complimentary infrastructure and support services, including credit, research, training and extension, read the communiqué. The ministers reiterated the need to develop a race and gender sensitive system of land tenure that provides security to all landholdings and creates opportunities for development. Opening the meeting, Namibian president Sam Nujoma said that land was important in the social, economic and political development of the region. He said there was urgent need to address the land problems in order to maintain regional peace, stability and foster social and economic development. Nujoma reminded delegates that the redistribution of land had been one of the main aims of African countries' liberation struggles. - The struggle to gain political freedom and independence was characterised by the resolve of our people to liberate themselves and to determine their own future destiny, he said. Nujoma said, "Our aims and objectives were to take full control of our national resources and means of production. Among these resources, land is the key to social and economic development," said Nujoma adding that the land problem differed from country to country. He said that in Namibia white farmers owned more than 30,4 million hectares of commercial farm land and only 2,2 million hectares were in the hands of blacks. Nujoma expressed the hope that Namibia's trading partners and friends will provide substantial support towards the US$8,4 billion his country needs over the next five years to acquire a minimum of 10 million hectares for redistribution and resettlement of landless Namibians. The three-day meeting was attended by agriculture ministers from Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, who emphasised the importance of addressing land reforms in accordance with national policies and programmes in order to ensure equitable access to land resources and promote balanced national development. They said that there was need to develop appropriate roles for traditional and local leaders in land administration within clearly formulated legal frameworks. The ministers called for international cooperation in the implementation of national reform programmes, including funding the compensation of land acquisition depending upon the historical evolution of the land problem in each SADC member state.
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