Key land reform element launched

The Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (and designated SWAPO candidate for the post of State President), Hifikepunye Pohamba, has launched the first ever Provisional Valuation Roll for commercial agricultural farms in Namibia. According to Pohamba, there were 12.475 commercial farmers in Namibia and 90 per cent of them had already registered their farms in this new move. He said the remaining 10 per cent who had not done so should co-operate and register their farms as soon as possible.
The Provisional Valuation Roll contains the name of the farm, the owner and the taxable value of the property. The taxable value is based on the land in its natural state, without the improvements thereon. The commercial farmers have been given 21 days to inspect the valuation roll and check if they agree with the marked value of their farms. If not, the farmers can lodge an objection with the Ministry in writing. "I want to inform you that this exercise has yielded encouraging results and I am pleased to report to the Namibian nation that about 90 per cent of the forms were received and verified, said Pohamba. The money collected from Land Tax will be deposited into a fund to be used to acquire land to resettle the previously disadvantaged Namibians as well as to develop and improve commercial agricultural land. (The Namibian, Windhoek)