(Ecofin Agency) - Namibia’s government plans to expropriate many white land owners soon in order to accelerate property transfer to the black majority of the country. This was revealed on March 21st by the nation’s president, Hage Geingob, on the sidelines of the 27th anniversary of Namibia’s independence.

The president however plans to be fair in the process by providing compensation to the white owners as the constitution states in the case of expropriation. “If we are committed to achieving further economic growth and maintaining peace, then everyone should be open to new approaches. This means we need to refer back to our Constitution which allows for the expropriation of land with fair compensation and also look at foreign ownership of land, especially absentee land owners,” he said.

Namibia wishes to transfer 43% of arable lands currently owned by the white minority to black people, by 2020. That is 15 million hectares of agricultural lands.

Doing so, the government would thus follow the steps of its neighbor South Africa which recently decided to simplify the procedures related to the expropriation of white land owners without providing any compensation, regardless of starting an identity debate which was until now kept in the dark.

Souha Touré