The National Assembly has begun debating the proposed Land Bill, designed to allocate communal land to Namibians in rural areas to advance land reform. The Bill also seeks to establish a land board and a Communal Land Development Fund.

During the debate, MPs voiced concerns about the lack of commercial land audits to assess progress and the exclusion of youth and farmworkers from the Bill's provisions.

Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) MP Inna Hengari highlighted frustrations expressed by farmers, noting that many farms allocated to previously disadvantaged Namibians remain unproductive due to misleading promises and insufficient support.

She emphasised the need for data-driven audits, saying, “Since independence, we have resettled over 5,518 beneficiaries as of 2025. Yet, without a rigorous data-driven audit, we legislate in the dark. There can be no true restorative justice without meaningful data to back our decisions.”

While supporting the Bill, other MPs called for amendments to improve its inclusivity. SWAPO MP Justina Jonas proposed adding at least two representatives for workers, with one specifically representing farmworkers, who should have full voting rights on decisions related to the Bill.

Deputy Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy, Gaudencia Krohne, pointed out the Bill’s gap in addressing youth participation, despite 70% of Namibians being young. She stressed the need for clearer youth-targeted empowerment measures within the land policy and called for enhanced entrepreneurial opportunities for women to leverage the country’s demographic dividend effectively.