Legal aspects of access to land and tenure in Namibia: a case of social inequality supported and regulated by the law

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Periodical article

Title:	Legal aspects of access to land and tenure in Namibia: a case of social inequality supported and regulated by the law
Author:	Parker, C.
Year:	1991
Periodical:	Lesotho Law Journal: A Journal of Law and Development (ISSN 0255-6472)
Volume:	7
Issue:	1
Pages:	93-106
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Namibia Southern Africa
Subjects:	social inequality land law law land tenure legislation
Abstract:	The legal regime of access to land in South West Africa (Namibia) was influenced, first, by one's skin pigmentation and the racial group to which one belonged; second, by one's ethnic background; third, by the place where the land was situated; and, finally, by the question of whether the land was acquired from the State, a private owner, a chief or a headman. Four categories of land were discerned: communal land areas, originally called 'native reserves' and then 'homelands'; the Rehoboth region; white areas, mainly in the southern sector; and State land. This article discusses the legal aspects of access to land and land tenure in these four categories of land. It shows that nearly all the viable farmland in central and southern Namibia has become a preserve of whites. One of the main duties of the present government of Namibia, independent since 1990, is to take effective and prudent measures aimed at rectifying the existing imbalance in land distribution and unequal access to land. Ref.