Family asked to leave farm after father's death

MARTHA Namises (53) fights back tears as she narrates her family's history at the Luehl/Garib farm which they have been asked to leave.

Luehl/Garib is an 18 000-hectare farm outside Dordabis, a rural village with a population of 1 200 consisting mainly of former farm workers who were thrown out of 22 nearby farms. Namises said her father, Moses Namiseb, who died at the age of 90 in March this year, had worked at the farm for more than 40 years before he retired at 60. Namiseb first worked for Hans-Joachim Luehl from 1965, and continued working there when his son Hans-Peter Luehl took over the farm in 1983. In 2014, Luehl gave the farm to his daughter Juljane Hess, who is married to Sigurd Hess. According to Namises, their father was given a portion of land at one of the farm's posts to live on with his family upon his retirement, and he continued living there for 30 years until his death. Namises said she and her 12 siblings grew up on the farm, and although most of the siblings have now relocated to Dordabis, Rehoboth and Windhoek, they would still come back for holidays, and bring their children as well. Of the siblings, only one, Leopoldine, lived at the farm to look after their late father (Moses), who was made to sign a contract that his family would move off the farm plot upon his death. The contract states that upon Moses' death, his family will move from the farm within three months. However, the family has asked for an extension until March next year, but this was rejected when they failed to turn up for a meeting to discuss the extension request. Hess told The Namibian yesterday that she cannot allow the family to continue staying on the land when she had already honoured the contract with their former worker, the late Moses Namiseb. “We had an agreement with Moses, who worked for us, but had no obligation to the children. It is also not an eviction, as none of the children lived here, expect Leopoldine, who looked after their father. We offered her a place at the main house, but she refused,” explained Hess. Hess said they have had many farm workers who were made to move out of the farm when they retired. “Some have come to me saying if we allow this family to stay on, they will also come back and claim part of the land. There are still so many other pensioners at the farm, and I will have to make tough decisions,” she added. Hess said she understands that people need land to live on, but there is only so much she can do. She said the last thing she wants is for any of her people to move into squatter camps, “but at least these children (Namisen family) are well off, and they have no reason to behave like this as they can take care of themselves”. “We cannot also just give them land. Even by law, we cannot cut it into small pieces or give it to them. Many other families who also worked here will come back and make claims,” she reiterated. During an interview with The Namibian on Sunday, one of the sisters, Wilma !Games (44) said she feels hurt because her father had been living on a small piece of communal land in the Autabib area before he moved to work on the Garib farm. “If he had continued living there, we would not be in this situation where we are forced to move off the land. Where do we go now? This has been home for us,” said !Games. Brandishing a letter dated January 2005, !Games said they sought to purchase the portion of land they have been living on, but all their attempts were in vain. Another sibling, Frederick Namiseb (58) said he had also worked with his father at several posts on the Garib farm, where they sometimes looked after more than 600 cattle.