GOVERNMENT'S seizure of cattle belonging to farmers from the Gam area who invaded the Nyae-Nyae Conservancy last month is in sharp conflict with the judiciary process, says the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC).

Government began confiscating the cattle in truckloads on Sunday, for transport to quarantine centres in the Kavango, at Mangetti and Oshivelo, from where they will be auctioned off and possibly slaughtered, with no compensation to the Gam farmers.

The decision was taken by Cabinet last week - six weeks after the farmers destroyed a veterinary cordon fence saying they wanted to find better grazing for their cattle in the conservancy, sparking an animal health crisis and breaking various national laws in the process.

'ILLEGAL'

The LAC, which is representing the Nyae-Nyae Conservancy and the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (Wimsa) in suing the Gam farmers for damages in excess of N$600 000, says that by forfeiting the animals to the State, Government is confusing its legislative function with the judiciary.

"Government is not distinguishing between the criminal process and the functions of veterinary services," says Zeka Alberto, project lawyer for he Land, Environment and Development Project at the LAC.

"The cattle were not impounded by veterinary services, but were confiscated by the Police in terms of the criminal process. This means that whatever confiscated evidence exists, only a court of law can pronounce on [it]," he said, adding that the cattle should have been kept as evidence for the court to decide on.

Alberto also said that the recommendation made by the fact-finding mission to Cabinet to destroy the animals is an illegal one, and "an interference with the judiciary", given the nature of the cattle as evidence in the criminal case against the farmers.

He said these recommendations should have been made to the prosecutor, who would then act on the matter in terms of the law, instead of to Cabinet.

Under litigation, the Gam farmers could potentially take legal action against Government for this move, he indicated.

"If Government had moved swiftly in the beginning to quarantine the animals, and the cattle were only taken by veterinary services without the Police, then the veterinary services would have been the right body to handle the matter.

"But Government was hesitant to act, and the Police arrested the farmers and confiscated the cattle, and so the judicial process should be followed," Alberto stated.

Thirty-two of the invading farmers were arrested and released on bail of N$1 000 each. They have yet to appear in court for a plea hearing. One of the 32 was a minor, and was released into the custody of his parents.

The cattle were being held at Appel Pos in Tsumkwe by the Police there.

Commissioner Hophni Hamufungu of the Namibian Police confirmed that "in the practice of Police work, if something is used in the commission of a crime, this is kept to be used as an exhibit (evidence)".

"In the case of the Nyae-Nyae Conservancy, because the farmers crossed the veterinary cordon fence with the cattle, they should serve as an exhibit," he told The Namibian.

Although he could not comment on Government's action, Hamufungu said the animals could only be auctioned off or destroyed - as resolved by Cabinet - "after the due process of the law has been followed".

Attempts to obtain comment from the Ministry of Agriculture proved futile, with Permanent Secretary Andrew Ndishishi - to whom Minister John Mutorwa referred questions - locked in meetings throughout the day.

'UNCONSTITUTIONAL'

In the meantime, the Congress of Democrats has "totally rejected" Cabinet's decision to seize the cattle, and has called for their immediate return to their owners "as soon as they have been cleared of any disease".

The party is also calling upon "all progressive and peace-loving Namibians to stand up against" what they claimed are attempts by Government to "deprive the farmers in Gam of their only source of livelihood".

"As much as the CoD does not support the invasion of the Nyae-Nyae Conservancy by the farmers, we are convinced that this is a clear and unambiguous expression of land hunger by the farmers. We believe that it is a shame that 20 years after Independence, the land issue has not been solved satisfactorily," the CoD said in a press release yesterday.

The opposition party says the confiscation of the cattle will only make the Gam farmers poorer and 'condemn' them to the state of beggars, as cattle are their only source of income.

"The CoD reminds the Government of the day that farmers in Gam are Namibians and have a constitutionally guaranteed right to dignity," reads the statement.

"The act of forfeiting the farmers' cattle to the State is cruel, inhuman and degrading to the farmers and should not be allowed to proceed as it violates a constitutionally guaranteed and entrenched right of the farmers in Gam."