4. Haiǁom resettlement, legal action and political representation

Abstract

This chapter considers the destiny of indigenous Haiǁom after they were evicted from Etosha National Park in the 1950s. Differently to communities further west, Haiǁom were not provided a “Homeland” under the separate development policies of the 1970s, but instead were left without any land. In post-independent Namibia this meant they had no opportunity to establish conservancies under Namibia’s Community-Based Natural Resources Management programme. Some efforts have been made to compensate Haiǁom by purchasing several farms for them in the vicinity of the Etosha National Park, although most Haiǁom residents of the park resisted their resettlement, fearing they would lose all access to the park, i.e. their ancestral land. In 2015, a large group of Haiǁom from various areas dissatisfied with the government’s resettlement approach, launched a legal claim to parts of their ancestral land, mainly within Etosha National Park. This chapter outlines these developments, paying attention to the rather ambivalent role played by the Haiǁom Traditional Authority. It also looks at recent developments, arguing for inclusion of Haiǁom cultural heritage in future planning and implementation of nature conservation and tourism activities in the Etosha area.