CASE NUMBER .

/2015
IN THE HIGH COURT OF NAMIBIA
MAIN DIVISION HELD AT WINDHOEK
In the matter between:
CHIEF ELIAS TANISEB

APPLICANT

and
COMMUNAL LAND BOARD, KUNENE REGION

1ST RESPONDENT

SORRIS SORRIS CONSERVANCY COMMITTEE

2ND RESPONDENT

MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM

3RD RESPONDENT

MANASE KATJIVENA

4TH RESPONDENT

TITUS MATHIAS AKA TITUS NIISHITYA

5th RESPONDENT

SUPPORTING AFFIDAVIT

I, the undersigned, RODEA do hereby make oath and state:

1. All of the facts deposed to by me herein are within my own personal

knowledge, unless indicated to the contrary or as the context may imply, and
are to the best of my belief both true and correct. Where I make a statement
of a legal nature, I do so on the advice of my Legal Representatives, which
advice I verily believe to be correct.

2. I am an adult female Namibian citizen, and I have resided at the Sorris Sorris
area for the whole of my life. I am the vice chairperson of the Sorris Sorris
Conservancy.

3.

I am duly representing the interests of the CONSERVANCY COMMITTEE OF

THE SORRIS SORRIS COMMUNAL CONSERVANCY and am authorised to depose

to this affidavit on behalf of the committee and particularly because all the facts are
within my own personal knowledge,

The Sorris Sorris Conservancy

was

established on 15 October 2001. Government notice number 211 in Government

Gazette 2630 declares it as a communal conservancy.

4.

At all material times hereto the Sorris Sorris Conservancy Committee has a

direct and substantial interest in this matter for the reasons set out more fully below.
5.

The Sorris Sorris Communal Conservancy is in extent some 2290 square

kilometres with a local population of approximately 1300 people6.

Because of its

arid environment on the edge of the Namib Desert, settlement in the area has always
been very limited. The Dure Damara people have occupied this area since time
immemorial, with a centre at Okombahe slightly south east of Sorris Sorris.
6.

The Damara were among the earliest residents of Namibia and are divided

into a number of groups that include the Dorn, or Brandberg Damara. The Damara
of the area of the conservancy are a traditional community as defined in terms of
Section 1 of the Traditional Authorities Act and are accordingly subject to the
jurisdiction and the customary laws of the Applicant.
7.

Sorris Sorris stretches along the Eastern fringes of the Namib desert and its

environment is heavily influenced by the Namib. The cold Benguela Current flowing

along the Namibian Coast inhibits cloud formation and influences the climate of a
large part of the country. Average annual rainfall in Sorris Sorris is low at between
150 and 200 millimetres and it is also highly variable, with much higher than average
rainfall in some years and basically none in others.

8.Evaporation is extremely high and frequent prolonged periods of drought require a

great degree of adaptability, putting great limitations on agriculture in the area. The
Ugab river is an ephemeral river but provides an important lifeline in the desert,
providing a variety of resources for wildlife, as well as the local community and their
few livestock.

9.Sorris Sorris is home to a large variety of game, including desert adapted elephant,
black rhino, giraffe, mountain zebra, kudu, gemsbok, springbok, duiker, steenbok,
klipspringer, ostrich and baboon. Predators include leopard, cheetah, spotted and
brown hyena, jackal and caracal, as well as occasional nomadic lions.
10.

Water supply is a constant inhibiting factor in the Sorris Sorris Conservancy.

Yields from underground reserves are low and drilling boreholes is expensive. There
are some earth dams in the north of the conservancy but these store water for only a
limited time after good rains. Some permanent springs in the Ugab River provide
localised water for both wildlife and livestock.
11.

Most of the residents in the Sorris Sorris Conservancy are subsistence

farmers, with unemployment and poverty being extremely high. Livelihoods range
from collecting bush food and small scale farming which is inhibited by a lack of
rainfall. Most farmers have a few cattle, goats and sheep. The conservancy has a

hunting quota conferred on it by the Minister of Environment and Tourism which it is

allowed to use to benefit its members by distributing the meat from hunting. Income
from pensions supplement the income for many residents.
12.

Starting the conservancy by the local community was not easy and the

community at first had no supporting agency. With assistance from the Ministry of
Environment and Tourism and subsequently the local community, Sorris Sorris was
registered in 2001. Subsequently the local community are living with wildlife, are
managing natural resources wisely and are reaping the benefits..
13. Since the advent of the Conservancy, income earning activities such as hunting
concessions and tourism has improved the livelihood of many of the conservancy
members through the conservancys benefit sharing scheme.
14.

However, because of the sparse resources, lack of adequate grazing and

water points the conservancy has to be carefully and frugally managed to attain its
objectives of utilising its wildlife to promote a sustainable pattern of wildlife utilisation
for consumptive and non-consumptive purposes to benefit the local community.
15.

Sorris Sorris is divided into four zones in order to reduce conflicts between

wildlife and farming activities. There is a buffer zone between the farming area and
the exclusive wildlife zone. As the conservancy is not fenced, local farmers are
permitted to graze their livestock in the buffer zone in times of drought, and wildlife is
free to wander throughout the conservancy. Cattle numbers of the local community
are carefully controlled and grazing areas are constantly monitored and managed to
ensure proper range management and sustainability for grazing of livestock. I attach
annexure marked A hereto, being a map of the zoning of the conservancy in
accordance with its management plan.

16.

No new settlements are allowed in the exclusive wildlife zone nor is livestock

grazing allowed in this zone. Sorris Sorris has a rhinoceros sanctuary adjacent to the
exclusive wildlife zone, which adjoins the Rhinoceros Sanctuary of Dora !nawas
Conservancy. The rhinoceros population is an important source of income for the
conservancy as a tourist attraction and the conservation of these species is crucial
for Namibia as a whole, especially in light of the upsurge of rhino killings throughout
Namibia by poachers.
17.

The conservancy also provides habitat for many of the countrys near endemic

birds, including bare-cheeked babbler, Carps tit, rosy-faced lovebird, Rppells

parrot, Hartlaubs francolin, violet wood-hoopoe, Rppells korhaan, Damara hornbill,
Monteiros hornbill, white-tailed shrike, Herero chat and rockrunner. Large ana trees,
camel thorn trees and mustard tree thickets fringe the Ugab. Mopane trees are
dominant throughout much of the conservancy, giving way to open desert plains with
a sparse grass cover. The famous Welwitschia mirabilis, an ancient and unique
species with characteristics of both flowering and cone-bearing plants, grows along
drainage lines in some areas. All of these features make eco-tourism a lucrative part
of the Conservancys business.
18.

The conservancy is managed strictly according to a management plan which

sets out the various use areas and consists of a body of maps and guidelines. I
have not annexed same hereto because of the sheer bulk thereof. The management
plan is a legislative requirement and has been approved by the third Respondent. It
is a public document and is available at the the Minsitry of Environment and also at
the conservancy Office for any interested parties to consult. The Communal
Conservancy is situated on Communal Land which is managed by the Applicant and

the conservancy committee for the benefit of the local communities occupying or
residing on it. Most of the inhabitants are not in formal employment.
19.

The members of the Sorris Sorris Conservancy are members of the Dure

Damara Traditional Community and they have habitually occupied the conservancy
area since time immemorial. Furthermore, the members of the applicant fall within
the category of landless people(i.e people who do not own land but subsist off the
land) residing within the conservancy for the purpose of promoting their economic
and social benefit through the conservancy.
20.

The rights thus conferred on the Applicant and the Conservancy Committee

include managing the conservancy on behalf of its members to attain the objectives
encapsulated in its constitution which is essentially to sustain and promote social
development and economic benefit by managing its wildlife resources.
21.

The purpose of the Sorris Sorris Conservancy management plans are to

maintaining habitat and ecosystems. It is directly linked to land management within

the conservancy area. Accordingly such rights are a necessary implication and
inseparable from the conservancys right to manage and utilise its consumptive and
non-consumptive resources.
22.

The First Applicant was established in terms of the amended Nature

Conservation Ordinance 4 of 1975. Section 24(A) provides that:

A conservancy committee shall on behalf of the community in the conservancy or in respect
of which a conservancy has been declared have rights and duties with regard to the
consumptive and non-consumptive use and sustainable management of game in such
conservancy, in order to enable the members of such committee to derive benefit from such
use and management.

23.

According to Section 1 of the same ordinance non-consumptive use means

use not entailing the permanent removal of individual game, but use for recreational,
educational, research, cultural or aesthetic purposes.
24.

The First Applicant was created with the support of the local community and

the Applicant in order to achieve these objectives.

25.

It follows that the conservancy has the right to manage its wildlife and natural

resources sustainably.

Regulation 155B(a) of the Regulations to the Nature

Conservation Ordinance requires the conservancy to have a management plan. The

management plan determines the strategy to manage wildlife resources sustainably
and includes management for non-consumptive use such as for eco-tourism
purposes.
26.

It is a necessary implication that the Conservancy has a clear right to make

management decisions to attain its objectives, including land-use planning within its
conservancy, to protect habitats and ecosystems to attain sustainable use of its
resources.
27.

In particular the Conservancy has the right to manage and zone the

communal land within its conservancy area for varying types of usages in pursuit of
its objectives namely to manage wildlife and tourism for the benefit of its members.
28.

The Applicant and the Conservancy have a clear and exclusive right to

manage settlement, grazing, hunting, harvesting and tourism within its geographical
boundaries in pursuit of its objectives.

29.

During or about December 2014 the Fourth

Respondent entered the

Conservancy area with more than 100 head of cattle and other small stock.
30.

The Fourth Respondent did not obtain permission from the Applicant or from

the Conservancy Committee or, to the best of my knowledge from any other
permitting authority.
31.

The Fourth Respondent is unlawfully grazing his cattle and smallstock within

the Conservancy area, and in particular in the exclusive wildlife area and in the
Rhinoceros sanctuary. He has also moved in with vehicles, set up kraals and other
structures within this exclusive wildlife area
32.

Shortly after the fourth Respondent moved into the area the Applicant and

members of the Traditional Authority and myself with members of the conservancy
committee confronted the Fourth Respondents and demanded that he vacate the
area and remove his cattle and small stock and all of his infrastructure. He flatly
refused to do so.
33.

Despite such demand the Fourth respondent, through his employees, assigns

or agents has refused to vacate the area and continues to reside and unlawfully
graze cattle in the exclusive wildlife zone and rhinoceros sanctuary.
34. During or about February 2015

the Fifth Respondent arrived in the

Conservancy area with approximately 100 amount of livestock, including cattle and
small stock.
35. He did not obtain permission from any permitting authority to graze his livestock
in the conservancy.

36. The fifth Respondent is allowing his livestock to graze in the exclusive wildlife
zone and in the Rhinoceros Sanctuary. He too has erected Kraals, structures and
has people occupying under him.
37. Again Chief Thaniseb and members of the conservancy committee demanded
the fifth respondent to vacate the area with his livestock and to remove the kraals
and other infrastructure erected.
38.

Despite such demand the Fifth Respondent has refused to vacate the area.

39.

As a result of the 4th and 5 th Respondents refusal to vacate the area with

their cattle there is uncontrolled grazing, human habitation and other activity in the
exclusive wildlife zone;
40.

The Rhinoceros sanctuary has been disturbed and there is destruction of the

limited water holes;

41.

There is uncontrolled destruction of sensitive species of flora. The Fourth and

Fifth Respondents are driving their cattle and four wheel drive vehicles in a sensitive
habitat area causing destruction to the natural environment. They are destroying
water points and generally undermining the conservancys efforts.
42.

The Conservancy committee fears that the intrusion of the cattle herders into

the rhinoceros sanctuary poses a threat to these vulnerable species. The first
applicants apprehension of such harm is reasonable.
43. It is common knowledge that Rhinoceros are being unsustainably poached for
their horns throughout Namibia and in particular in the nearby Palmwag concession

area nearby where rhinoceros poaching was preceded by cattle herders moving into
the area;
44. In the premises the First Applicant reasonably apprehends that the continued
occupation of the Conservancy by the 4 th and 5th Respondents constitutes a harm
against the conservancy in that:
44.1

The presence of cattle and humans within the wildlife sanctuary

disturbs the rhino population which the conservancy relies on for tourism
income;
44.2

The presence of the cattle and humans within the exclusive wildlife

area deters from the natural environment and undermines the conservancys
tourism experience;
44.3
The fourth and fifth respondents cattle are destroying resources
allocated for the sustainable management of wildlife;
44.4

The cattle of the fourth and fifth Respondent are destroying water

points that are used for wildlife and driving the wildlife away;
44.5

The presence of the fourth and fifth respondents with their cattle in the

rhinoceros sanctuary is indicative of an intention other than the preservation

of the Rhinoceros;
44.6

The continued unlawful presence of the fourth and fifth respondents

and their livestock undermines the conservancys ability to properly manage

its wildlife and other natural resources for the benefit of the local community.

45.

The Applicant has powers to evict unlawful occupiers of communal land,

whereas the conservancy has not been given such specific powers.

46. The Conservancy Committee accordingly supports the Applicant for the reasons
set out above and deems that the order sought shall curtail the unlawful activities of
the fourth and the Fifth Respondents.

.............................................
UTE DIECKMANN

I hereby declare that the deponent has sworn to and signed this statement in my
presence at the day of 2015 and she declared as
follows: that the facts herein contained fall within her personal knowledge and that she
understands the contents hereof; that she has no objection to taking the oath; that she
regards the oath as binding on her conscience and has declared as follows:

I swear that the contents of this Sworn Affidavit are true and correct, so help me God.

......................................................
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