“Beggars on our own land …” 9783906927602

beggars
250,00 NAD each

“Beggars on our own land …”

Tsumib v Government of the Republic of Namibia and its implications for ancestral land claims in Namibia

Willem Odendaal

ISBN 9783906927602

Basel Namibia Studies Series 30 April 2024

In 1954, the Hai||om people were evicted from Etosha by the South African-controlled South West African Administration. In 2015, the Hai||om filed the case of Tsumib v Government of the Republic of Namibia in the High Court of Namibia. “We are beggars on our own land” unravels the historical and contemporary socio-legal complexities that led to the Tsumib case. At the core of the case lies the legal question, how can the Hai||om people approach the Namibian Courts in order to claim compensation for the loss of their ancestral lands? 

Odendaal goes into detail how the Tsumib case materialised under the post-independence Namibian constitutional discourse. He assesses the Namibian land reform programme and its oversight in dealing with historical land dispossessions. He inspects Hai||om “identity” and how it was used to strengthen their case. He concludes with an examination of Namibia’s outdated and restrictive legal framework, which ultimately denied the Hai||om people their constitutional right to be heard in the Namibian Court.

While the future of ancestral land claims in Namibia depends on the political will of the Namibian government, Odendaal argues that the Namibian courts have a duty to comply with the rights giving nature of the Namibian Constitution that lays the foundation for the Hai||om people’s ancestral claims.

Willem Odendaal obtained his PhD in Law from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. He is an admitted legal practitioner in the High and Supreme Courts of Namibia. He was the project coordinator of the Land, Environment and Development project at the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) from 2006 until 2019. At present, Odendaal continues working with local communities in Namibia on human, land and environmental rights related topics.