Rights of leasehold

Hello my name is Gabes Augustus. I am a Paralegal at the Legal Assistance Centre. The Legal
Assistance Centre has been given the opportunity to speak on radio about access to communal land.
You should listen to the announcements to check when our next show will be.

Today we are talking about how to apply for a right of leasehold. This is different to a customary land
right. You can apply for a right of leasehold when you want to use customary land for business
purposes. For example, someone might want to open a lodge to encourage tourists to visit the area.

To apply for a right of leasehold, you must complete the correct application form and give it to the
Communal Land Board that oversees the area of communal land in question.

The Communal Land Board must get the consent of the Chief or Traditional Authority before it
approves a request.

A right of leasehold can be granted for up to 99 years. For applications for longer than 10 years, the
Minister of Land Reform must also approve the application.

If your application is refused, you can appeal to the Appeals Tribunal set up for this purpose.

You must pay a fee to hold a right of leasehold. This is sometimes called rent. The amount set is
decided by the Communal Land Board.

Once the right of leasehold is approved, the allocation will be recorded in the correct register and the
applicant will be given a certificate.

You can apply to renew a right of leasehold. The Board can renew an application for up to ten years.
If the application to renew is for a longer period, the Minister must approve the renewal.

In addition to the radio shows that we have been presenting, we have also produced a factsheet and
comic about the Communal Land Reform Act. Our comic is about a mother, Anna and her 2
daughters, Rosa and Nelly.

Nelly, the youngest daughter wants to apply for a right of leasehold on communal land to start a
business. She knows that people will be surprised that a young woman is considering such a project
but she has done her research and knows that it is possible. As Chief Petrus explains

Chief Petrus: It is important to uphold tradition, but we must also to respect our
Constitution as the supreme law of our land. These women have every right
to apply for their rights.

If would like a copy of the comic, please send an sms to 081 600 0098. You should give us your name
and where you are. We will pass on this information to the team who will be conducting workshops
about the Act. They will see if they are coming to your area and if so, how the materials can be given
to your community.
If you have any questions about applying for a right of leasehold, please send us your questions to
081 600 0098.

The production of this show was funded by funded the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Namibia & Angola
special initiative "One World-No Hunger 2".