In February we went back to the community in the Chimbolelo Valley. During the Participatory Rural Diagnostic the community hat stated that their main problem was that some commercial cattle farmers grab their land. These farmers have leased large amounts of land, but they take more than they have applied for and fence it off. When we went back in February to discuss this issue more thoroughly, the community told us that one farmer was busy fencing of 8 km2 of land that is not his. The next day we went to have a look and took the coordinates of the disputed area.
When we were back in Lubango we spoke to someone in the department of land registration to find out what the community could do about this. The solution was reasonably simple: write a letter to the government. A week later we went back to the community and told them what they could do. The representative of the community wrote two letters, one to the provincial government and one to the municipal government. We took those letters, photocopied them and made sure the relevant department signed the copies, indicating they had received the letters.
Last week we went back, because apart from this complaint, the community now wants to register their land that in the name of the community. We told them that this is possible under Angolan Law. Registering their land, secures their acces to it, which is what our project should be trying to do, so we support this wholeheartedly. Part of the registration process is a joint defintion of the borders by all concerned: the community of Chimbolelo, the commercial cattle farmers and other neighbouring communities.
To prepare ourselves for this, we wanted to get coordinates of all the commercial cattle farms in the area. We had two aims last week: one was to try and drive around the commercial farms to get coordinates and the other was to help the community to write the official application for communal land registration and to take that document to Lubango.
The very first thing the representatives of the community told us, with huge grins ontheir faces, was that the manager of the farmer mentioned above in question had stopped fencing the land. Apparently the manager was told to stop fencing the land until further notice. So it looks like we scored our first little victory.
When we were back in Lubango we spoke to someone in the department of land registration to find out what the community could do about this. The solution was reasonably simple: write a letter to the government. A week later we went back to the community and told them what they could do. The representative of the community wrote two letters, one to the provincial government and one to the municipal government. We took those letters, photocopied them and made sure the relevant department signed the copies, indicating they had received the letters.
Last week we went back, because apart from this complaint, the community now wants to register their land that in the name of the community. We told them that this is possible under Angolan Law. Registering their land, secures their acces to it, which is what our project should be trying to do, so we support this wholeheartedly. Part of the registration process is a joint defintion of the borders by all concerned: the community of Chimbolelo, the commercial cattle farmers and other neighbouring communities.
To prepare ourselves for this, we wanted to get coordinates of all the commercial cattle farms in the area. We had two aims last week: one was to try and drive around the commercial farms to get coordinates and the other was to help the community to write the official application for communal land registration and to take that document to Lubango.
The very first thing the representatives of the community told us, with huge grins ontheir faces, was that the manager of the farmer mentioned above in question had stopped fencing the land. Apparently the manager was told to stop fencing the land until further notice. So it looks like we scored our first little victory.
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