Illegal settlers in N?a Jaqna Conservancy must go Nearly three years after the N?a Jaqna Conservancy Committee has approached the High Court for relief, the court has determined on 18 August that 22 of 35 illegal settlers in the conservancy area must remove their illegal fences and livestock and vacate the area within 60 days. If they fail to leave, the Otjozondjupa Communal Land Board and the Ministry of Land Reform are authorised and ordered to forcibly remove them and their fences and livestock.
The case of the N?a Jaqna was instituted in the High Court by the LAC in 2013. The director of the LAC, Toni Hancox, said the order underscores the sentiment of the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, when he said abuse of communities in conservancies by invaders will not be tolerated.
She said Shifeta’s sentiment is a positive indication of the growing support from the government for those vulnerable communities whose communal land and conservancy resources have been usurped by illegal occupiers.
“Although the outcome of the court proceedings is a positive step forward for the N?a Jaqna conservancy specifically, the court order has empowered other conservancies and local communities that are being denied their rights by illegal settlement, grazing and fencing,” said Hancox.
She said the LAC is confident that the relevant ministries and authorities will act expeditiously to enforce the order should this become necessary and that they will continue to support and defend the rights of vulnerable communities whose constitutional rights are infringed.
The illegal settlers had alleged that the Communal Land Reform Act 5 of 2002 precludes the N?a Jaqna conservancy committee from evicting people off the communal land within the conservancy.
The LAC had argued that the N?a Jaqna as members of the !Kung traditional community that have habitually and exclusively occupied the conservancy area since time immemorial in fact do have the right to claim authority over the land and have authority to evict illegal occupiers.
CATHERINE SASMAN