An assessment of landlessness and its impact on social and economic development: A case study of the Omaheke in Namibia, 1990 - 2015
Landlessness has been both the cause and the manifestation of poverty, insecurity, indebtedness and powerlessness of the majority of rural households in most parts of Africa and Asia. This study was an assessment of the degree of landlessness and its impact on the social and economic development in Namibia with special focus on the Omaheke Region. The study examined the correlation between landlessness and socio-economic improvement of communities by employing a quantitative and qualitative (mixed) methods approach, using interviews, a questionnaire and documentary analysis. A purposive sampling method was used to sample a population size of 140 participants. However, due to other limiting factors beyond the control of the researcher and unavailability of some respondents, the end result for this study was 113 respondents. The sample consisted of resettled beneficiaries of land reform and other rural and urban households in the seven constituencies. This study adopted the historical and political-economic (HPE) framework because it draws particular attention to politics and economics, understood in terms of contestation and bargaining between interest groups with competing claims over rights and resources. Political economy analysis helps to understand what drives political behaviour, how this shapes particular policies and programmes like those of land reform and land redistribution, who are the main winners and losers, and what the implications are for development strategies and programmes. This study concludes that the degree of landlessness has an effect on the standard of living, which, ultimately, affects economic development of a region or country. For Namibia in general, and the Omaheke Region in particular, despite gross inequalities, land remains a major factor of production which supports rural and urban economy. However, access to land alone without access to other resources is not a panacea for meaningful socio-economic development. Those without land or, no access to it in the rural areas and lacking an alternative source of income are therefore doomed to poverty and become vulnerable to malnutrition and starvation. It was found that when agricultural land is equitably distributed by the land redistribution programmes, the gap between the landed and the landless becomes narrow. Furthermore, this study reveals that there are various causes of landlessness in different countries of the world but they are similar and related in some parts of Asia and Africa, namely: (a) the intervention of European rule or colonialism; (b) the progressive introduction of monetized transactions and the rise in power of the money-lender which introduced capitalism; and (c), the rapid growth of populations. One of the most important lines of policy to eradicate poverty and inequality is to focus directly on reducing the high concentration and control of assets, the unequal distribution of economic power and the unequal access to income-earning opportunities that characterize the Namibian society. To overcome landlessness, the government may consider introducing land ceilings as a policy option in the context of implementing a redistributive land reform programme. Land ceilings are in line with the principle of good governance, sharing, equity, inclusivity and eradicating landlessness, which may lead to peace and stability and, ultimately, socio-economic development of the country. In addition, this study supports and recommends the adoption of the three resettlement models to address the three main categories of landlessness, namely: The Commercial Resettlement Model (CRM); The Semi-Commercial Model (SCRM) and; The Subsistence Resettlement Model (SRM).
Landlessness, Socio-economic development, Political economy, Land reform, Land redistribution, Resettlement, Land inequality, Sustainable development, Capitalism
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