Skip to main content
Open Book Publishers

4. Haiǁom resettlement, legal action and political representation

Chapter of: Etosha Pan to the Skeleton Coast: Conservation Histories, Policies and Practices in North-west Namibia(pp. 143–166)

Export Metadata

  • ONIX 3.1
  • ONIX 3.0
    • Thoth
    • Project MUSE
      Cannot generate record: No BIC or BISAC subject code
    • OAPEN
    • JSTOR
      Cannot generate record: No BISAC subject code
    • Google Books
      Cannot generate record: No BIC, BISAC or LCC subject code
    • OverDrive
      Cannot generate record: No priced EPUB or PDF URL
  • ONIX 2.1
  • CSV
  • JSON
  • OCLC KBART
  • BibTeX
  • CrossRef DOI deposit
    Cannot generate record: This work does not have any ISBNs
  • MARC 21 Record
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
  • MARC 21 Markup
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
  • MARC 21 XML
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
Metadata
Title4. Haiǁom resettlement, legal action and political representation
ContributorUte Dieckmann(author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0402.04
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.04
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightUte Dieckmann
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2024-08-02
Long abstractThis chapter considers the destiny of indigenous Haiǁom after they were evicted from Etosha National Park in the 1950s. Differently to communities further west, Haiǁom were not provided a “Homeland” under the separate development policies of the 1970s, but instead were left without any land. In post-independent Namibia this meant they had no opportunity to establish conservancies under Namibia’s Community-Based Natural Resources Management programme. Some efforts have been made to compensate Haiǁom by purchasing several farms for them in the vicinity of the Etosha National Park, although most Haiǁom residents of the park resisted their resettlement, fearing they would lose all access to the park, i.e. their ancestral land. In 2015, a large group of Haiǁom from various areas dissatisfied with the government’s resettlement approach, launched a legal claim to parts of their ancestral land, mainly within Etosha National Park. This chapter outlines these developments, paying attention to the rather ambivalent role played by the Haiǁom Traditional Authority. It also looks at recent developments, arguing for inclusion of Haiǁom cultural heritage in future planning and implementation of nature conservation and tourism activities in the Etosha area.
Page rangepp. 143–166
Print length24 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Contributors

Ute Dieckmann

(author)
Anthropologist at University of Cologne
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9640-6942
https://www.xoms-omis.org/

Ute Dieckmann is an anthropologist at the University of Cologne and currently German Principal Investigator for Etosha-Kunene Histories (www.etosha-kunene-histories.net), supported by the German Research Foundation and the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. She has carried out long-term research in Namibia on colonialism, nature conservation and indigeneity. For many years, she has worked at the Legal Assistance Centre in Windhoek, doing research with and advocacy for marginalised and indigenous communities in Namibia and was coordinator of the Xoms |Omis Project (https://www.xoms-omis.org/). She has edited Mapping the Unmappable? Cartographic Explorations with Indigenous Peoples in Africa (2021) and co-edited Scraping the Pot? San in Namibia Two Decades After Independence (2014).

References
  1. NAN SWAA A 267/11/1 1956: Report of the Commission for the Preservation of Bushmen in South West Africa.
  2. Amupadhi, T. 2004. New Haiǁom Traditional Authority eyes Etosha. The Namibian 29.7.2004, https://www.namibian.com.na/new-hai-om-traditional-authority-eyes-etosha/
  3. E.H.A. [Etosha Haiǁom Association] Committee 2011. Letter E.H.A. to Minister of Environment and Tourism, Honorable Minister Mrs. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, cc’d to Ministry of Lands and Resettlement, Millennium Challenge Account, Namibia Wildlife Resorts, Haiǁom Traditional Authority, Office of the Prime Minister, San Development Programme, The Legal Assistance Centre.
  4. High Court of Namibia 2019. Tsumib and Others versus Government of the Republic of Namibia and Others (A206/2015[2019]) NAHCMD 312 (28.8.2019) (Tsumib).
  5. Jan Tsumib and 8 others v Government of the Republic of Namibia and 19 others, Case Number A206/2015.
  6. Khumub, K. 2011. E.H.A. letter to MET.
  7. Khumub, K. 2012. E.H.A. letter to MET.
  8. Komob, B. 2010a. Letter to the Minister of MET on behalf of the Haiǁom Community Group.
  9. Komob, B. 2010b. Letter to LAC: Okaukuejo Haiǁom are ready to take the Namibia Government to court.
  10. Komob, B. 2011a. Minutes E.H.A. community meeting at Okaukeujo.
  11. Komob, B. 2011b. Minutes of the Presentation on the Draft Proposal Tourism Traversing Rights Concession with Haiǁom Communities in and out Etosha National Park.
  12. Supreme Court of Namibia 2022. Tsumib and Others versus Government of the Republic of Namibia and Others (SA 53/2019) [2022] NASC 6 (16.3.2022).
  13. Anaya, J. 2013. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya TheSsituation of Indigenous Peoples in Namibia. Online Supplementary Material at https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/762527?ln=en
  14. Boden, G. 2009. The Khwe and West Caprivi before Namibian independence: Matters of land, labor, power and alliance. Journal of Namibian Studies 5: 27–71, https://namibian-studies.com/index.php/JNS/article/view/25/0
  15. Collinson, R. 2011. Feasibility Study: Exclusive Access Tourism Concession Inside Etosha National Park for Direct Award to the Haiǁom Community. Unpublished Report.
  16. Dieckmann, U. 2001. ‘The Vast White Place’: A history of the Etosha National Park and the Haiǁom. Nomadic People 5: 125–53, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43124106
  17. Dieckmann, U. 2007. Haiǁom in the Etosha Region: A History of Colonial Settlement, Ethnicity and Nature Conservation. Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien.
  18. Dieckmann, U. 2009. Born in Etosha: Homage to the Cultural Heritage of the Haiǁom. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre.
  19. Dieckmann, U. 2011a. The Haiǁom and Etosha: A case study of resettlement in Namibia. In Helliker, K. and Murisa, T. (eds.) Land Struggles and Civil Society in Southern Africa. New Jersey: Africa World Press, 155–89.
  20. Dieckmann, U. 2011b. Minutes of Meeting E.H.A. with MET. Unpublished.
  21. Dieckmann, U. 2012. Born in Etosha: Living and Learning in the Wild. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre.
  22. Dieckmann U. 2014. Kunene, Oshana and Oshikoto Regions. In Dieckmann, U., Thiem, M., Dirkx, E. and Hays, J. (eds.) Scraping the Pot: San in Namibia Two Decades After Independence. Windhoek: Land Environment and Development Project of the Legal Assistance Centre and Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, 173–232.
  23. Dieckmann, U. 2020. From colonial land dispossession to the Etosha and Mangetti West Land Claim—Haiǁom struggles in independent Namibia. In Odendaal, W. and Werner, W. (eds.) Neither Here Nor There: Indigeneity, Marginalisation and Land Rights in Post-independence Namibia. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre, 95–120, https://www.lac.org.na/projects/lead/Pdf/neither-5.pdf
  24. Dieckmann, U. and Begbie-Clench, B. 2014. Consultation, participation and representation. In Dieckmann, U., Thiem, M., Dirkx, E. and Hays, J. (eds.) Scraping the Pot: San in Namibia Two Decades After Independence. Windhoek: Land Environment and Development Project of the Legal Assistance Centre and Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, 595–616.
  25. Dieckmann, U. and Dirkx, E. 2014a. Access to land. In Dieckmann, U., Thiem, M., Dirkx, E. and Hays, J. (eds.) Scraping the Pot: San in Namibia Two Decades After Independence. Windhoek: Land Environment and Development Project of the Legal Assistance Centre and Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, 437–64.
  26. Dieckmann, U. and Dirkx, E. 2014b. Culture, discrimination and development. In Dieckmann, U., Thiem, M., Dirkx, E. and Hays, J. (eds.) Scraping the Pot: San in Namibia Two Decades After Independence. Windhoek: Land Environment and Development Project of the Legal Assistance Centre and Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, 503–22.
  27. Dieckmann, U. Thiem, M. and Hays, J. 2014. A brief profile of San in Namibia and the San development initiatives. In Dieckmann, U., Thiem, M., Dirkx, E. and Hays, J. (eds.) Scraping the Pot: San in Namibia Two Decades After Independence. Windhoek: Land Environment and Development Project of the Legal Assistance Centre and Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, 21–36.
  28. Eriksen, T.H. 1993. Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives. London: Pluto Press.
  29. GRN 2000. Traditional Authorities Act. Windhoek: Government of the Republic of Namibia.
  30. GRN 2010. Report On the Review of Post-resettlement Support to Group Resettlement Projects/farms 1991-2009. Windhoek: Government of the Republic of Namibia.
  31. GRN 2017. Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) 2017/18–2021/2022. Windhoek: National Planning Commission, https://www.npc.gov.na/national-plans/national-plans-ndp-5/
  32. Harring, S.L. and Odendaal, W. 2002. ‘One Day We Will All Be equal…’: A Socio-legal Perspective On the Namibian Land Reform and Resettlement Process. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre, https://www.lac.org.na/projects/lead/Pdf/oneday.pdf
  33. Hays, J., Thiem, M. and Jones, B. 2014. Otjozondjupa Region. In Dieckmann, U., Thiem, M., Dirkx, E. and Hays, J. (eds.) Scraping the Pot: San in Namibia Two Decades After Independence. Windhoek: Land Environment and Development Project of the Legal Assistance Centre and Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, 93–172.
  34. Hitchcock, R.K., Sapignoli, M. and Babchuk, W.A. 2011. What about our rights? Settlements, subsistence and livelihood security among Central Kalahari San and Bakgalagadi. The International Journal of Human Rights 15: 62–88, https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2011.529689
  35. Itamalo, M. 2016. Ondera is Namibia’s resettlement jewel. The Namibian 29.7.2016, https://www.namibian.com.na/ondera-is-namibias-resettlement-jewel/
  36. Jones, B. and Diez, L. 2011. Report to Define Potential MCA-N Tourism Project Support to the Haiǁom. Windhoek, Unpublished Report.
  37. Kahiurika, N. 2017. Haiǁom tourism concession in limbo. The Namibian 23.8.2017, https://allafrica.com/stories/201708230930.html
  38. Koot, S. and Hitchcock, R.K. 2019. In the way: Perpetuating land dispossession of the Indigenous Haiǁom and the collective action lawsuit for Etosha National Park and Mangetti West, Namibia. Nomadic Peoples 33: 55–77, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26744808
  39. Krämer, M. 2020. Neotraditional authority contested: The corporatization of tradition and the quest for democracy in the Topnaar Traditional Authority, Namibia. Africa 90(2): 318–38, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972019001062
  40. Lawry, S. and Hitchcock, R.L. 2012. Haiǁom Resettlement Farms: Land Use Plan and Livelihood Support Strategy. Unpublished Report.
  41. Lawry, S., Begbie-Clench, B. and Hitchcock, R.K. 2012. Haiǁom Resettlement Farms Strategy and Action Plan. Unpublished Report.
  42. Marais, F. 1984. Ondersoek na die Boesmanbevolkningsgroup in S.W.A. Edited by Direktoraat Ontwikkelingskoördinering. Windhoek.
  43. Menges, W. 2019. Etosha land rights claim stumbles at first hurdle. The Namibian 29.8.2019, https://www.namibian.com.na/etosha-land-rights-claim-stumbles-at-first-hurdle/
  44. MET 2007. Haiǁom San Socio-economic Development Adjacent to the Etosha National Park. Project Information Document. Windhoek: Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
  45. MET 2012. Head Concession Contract for the Etosha South Activity Concession – Etosha National Park. Windhoek: Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
  46. Miescher, G. 2009. Die Rote Line. Die Gesichte der Veterinär- und Siedlungsgrenze in Namibia (1890er-1960er Jahre). PhD thesis: Basel.
  47. Millennium Challenge Account–Namibia 2010. Request for Proposals MCAN/COM/RFP/2CO2001 for Conservancy Support Development Services. Unpublished.
  48. Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare 2022. Annual Report 2021/2022. Online Supplementary Material at https://mgepesw.gov.na/documents/792320/0/MGEPESW+AWP+20-21+Report.pdf/1f5a05d7-a193-98ec-ae18-dd30e00b48e9
  49. Mumbuu, E. 2018. Farm Ondera on the right trajectory. The Namibian 21.5.2018, https://namibian.com.na/farm-ondera-on-the-right-trajectory/
  50. NSA 2017. Namibia Inter-censal Demographic Survey 2016 Report. Windhoek: Namibia Statistics Agency.
  51. National Planning Commission 2007. Oshikoto Regional Poverty Profile. Windhoek: Central Statistics Office.
  52. Odendaal Report 1964. Report of the Commission of Enquiry into South West African Affairs 1962-1963. Pretoria: The Government Printer.
  53. Odendaal, W. 2022. ‘We Are Beggars On Our Own land…’ An Analysis of Tsumib v Government of the Republic of Namibia and its Implications for Ancestral Land Claims in Namibia. Unpublished Phd Thesis, School of Law, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.
  54. Odendaal, W., Gilbert, J. and Vermeylen, S. 2020. Recognition of ancestral land claims for indigenous peoples and marginalised communities in Namibia: A case study of the Haiǁom litigation. In Odendaal, W. and Werner, W. (eds.) 2020. ‘Neither Here Nor There’: Indigeneity, Marginalisation and Land Rights in Post-independence Namibia. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre, 121–42, https://www.lac.org.na/projects/lead/Pdf/neither-6.pdf
  55. Oreseb, C. 2011. Reader’s Letter: All is not well with the Haiǁom. New Era 24.6.2011.
  56. Rasmeni, M. 2018. Seringkop community no longer needs to travel to Outjo for primary health care. Namibia Economist 26.6.2018, https://economist.com.na/36279/health/seringkop-community-no-longer-needs-to-travel-to-outjo-for-primary-health-care/
  57. Sapignoli, M. 2015. Dispossession in the age of humanity: Human rights, citizenship, and indigeneity in the Central Kalahari. Anthropological Forum 25: 285–305, https://doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2015.1021293
  58. Shigwedha, A. 2007. San to get land near Etosha. The Namibian 26.3.2007, https://www.namibian.com.na/san-to-get-land-near-etosha/
  59. Staff Reporter. 2018. Haiǁom San receive N$7m farming boost. The Namibian 1.10.2018, https://namibian.com.na/hai-om-san-receive-n7m-farming-boost/
  60. Suzman, J. 2001. An Assessment of the Status of the San in Namibia. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Centre, http://www.lac.org.na/projects/lead/Pdf/sannami.pdf
  61. Suzman, J. 2004. Etosha dreams: An historical account of the Haiǁom predicament. Journal of Modern African Studies 42: 221–38, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X04000102
  62. Taylor, J.J. 2005. Land, Resources and Visibility: The Origins and Implications of Land Mapping in Namibia’s West Caprivi. Unpublished MPhil. Thesis, International Development Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford.
  63. von Zastrow, B. 1914. Über die Buschleute. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 46: 1–7, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23031250
  64. Weidlich, B. 2008. Haiǁom settled near former Etosha home. The Namibian, 17.11.2008.
  65. Widlok, T. 2003. The needy, the greedy, and the state: Dividing Haiǁom Land in the Oshikoto Region. In Hohmann, T. (ed.) San and the State: Contesting Land, Development, Identity and Representation. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, 87–119.