Govt pays N$15m for PM farms

Govt pays N$15m for PM farmsPrime minister says no preferential treatment received A company owned by the prime minister and her husband has scored big from a multimillion-dollar sale of farms to government. TUYEIMO HAIDULA and MATHIAS HAUFIKU







WINDHOEK

A company owned by Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and her husband, Onesmus Tobias Amadhila, last year sold two farms in the Otjozondjupa Region to government for N$15 million, after having bought the properties for N$5.5 million in 2011.

Seize The Moment Investment Fifty Six Corporation bought Farm Goab No. 760 - measuring 2 750 hectares - and the 7 485-hectare Farm Duwib 1149 from Karl Heinz-Friedrich in August 2011.

The information on how the PM-linked entity profited just under N$10 million for the land in nine years is contained in deeds documents publicly available at the Registrar of Deeds.

The PM denied any wrongdoing and disputed claims that the farms prices were inflated when they were sold to government.

On 9 November 2020, Farm Duwib – which cost N$3.8 million nine years earlier - was sold to government for N$8.6 million.

But before it was sold, it was subdivided in two parts measuring 2 500 and 5 100 hectares respectively.

Government took ownership of the 5 100-hectare portion, and the remaining part remained under the ownership of the company.

Three weeks after buying the portion of Farm Duwib, government paid N$5.8 million for Farm Goab (called Agenab) from the same company.

A month after finalising the two deals, the company then landed a N$5.2 million loan from Agribank, using the remaining portion of Farm Duwib as surety.

Nothing untoward

Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said the questions regarding the sales contain a lot of inaccuracies in terms of information cited concerning prices for the acquisition and sale of property, as well as borrowing. This is despite the figures being contained in official deeds documents.

She also said there has not been any over-pricing for properties as suggested.

Regarding claims of preferential treatment and that other farmers have been struggling to sell their farms to government because of a lack of funds in the public kitty, the prime minister responded: “There has not been any preferential treatment accorded to me or my family members by any public institution”.

She also disputed the N$5.2 million Agribank loan, saying “this information is not corroborated by any records”.

Kuugongelwa-Amadhila added: “There seems to be a deliberate misrepresentation of information for reasons that are only known to those who are doing so”.

Efforts to get hold of her husband proved futile, as calls and text messages went unanswered.

Money woes

The sale of the farms took place around the same time when Kuugongelwa-Amadhila told the nation in a progress report on the second land conference that purchasing of land by government from farmers could be suspended or stopped completely due to a lack of funds.

At the time, she said the purchasing of farms would only be possible if the lands ministry is in a financial position to do so.

“So far, the market has delivered land for acquisition. However, the power of acquisition relies on the status of an economy at a given time. It is the status of the economy that informs how much can be spent. The current economic turbulence did not allow the increase of funds for lands purchase,” she said in the 2020 report.

Nampa reported in 2019 that commercial farmers offered 469 farms for sale to the state in 2018.

Of these, 89 farms - measuring a combined 387 622 hectares - were withdrawn by the sellers.

The ministry sent back a further 17 farms measuring 62 323 0130 hectares, and waived 12 farms with a combined area of 49 144 2959 hectares.

The lands ministry’s 2018 annual report, in which the figures are contained, does not explain what happened to the remaining 350 farms offered to government.