The longstanding dispute over ancestral land rights involving the |Khomanin community has resurfaced.
The community has lodged fresh complaints against Gaos Juliane Gawa!nas and a German farmer, John Cuff, who allegedly owns the contested Baumgartsbrunn-||Ganaxas farm.
The |Khomanin people are accusing Cuff of infringing upon their rights regarding access, use, and control of the land.
Community members allege that Cuff has illegally expanded his farming operations onto their ancestral lands and has cleared portions of the land where |Khomanin graves are located.
Shaun Gariseb, the |Khomanin Axab and social justice activist, spoke on the matter, saying, "How can a traditional authority help other people at the expense of their own people? What is that? What kind of traditional authority is that? We are not going to allow that anymore. As of now, the traditional authority has decided that they are going to stand on the other side with the governor, with that councillor, and with those farmers who are oppressing us. The farmers even have the audacity to say they will get buses and send the people off to the two farms that were bought by the government. Those are not communal farms; those are resettlement farms."
The |Khomanin community first raised concerns in 2008 about the possibility of eviction after the death of Anna Bleks, widow of farm owner Helmut Bleks.
At the time, community members claimed a verbal agreement existed, allowing them permanent residency on the farm.
However, the Bleks' death took any evidence of this agreement away.
"When the farm was sold to the alleged, Mr. Cuff, but then we, as generational farm workers, needed space on that land, that portion that's measuring 500 hectares was reserved for the community; that's where the bone of content is. So what Cuff now is claiming is in his servitude, which means the rights of those communities to that land have been cancelled. I don't know how he did it while he had a servitude. His claim is that there are only 4 people to whom this land was donated; among them are the ones that survived, and that is one of them," explained Tjeja-Ua Tjatindi Jarii, an Ancestral Land Rights Associate and activist.
The |Khomanin community has rallied in protest, asserting that it is unjust for a single farmer to own more land than traditional authorities and the government combined.
The community has called for national solidarity in their fight for land justice.
They have formally submitted a grievance to the |Khomanin Gaos Gawa!nas.
The nbc News team reached out to Gaos Gawa!nas, but she declined to comment, citing that she intends to engage with the Bleks family and Cuff before discussing the issue with the community.
Cuff could not be reached for comment.