Hardap residents claim that the Land Resettlement Programme is skewed, unfair and discriminates against the poor and uneducated. The Ombudsman’s Office conducted a public hearing on the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme at Mariental yesterday, attended by 21 people. Ombudsman John Walters said there is a need for a national inquiry on the land resettlement programme, to answer many complaints raised against Regional Resettlement Committees. A 69-year-old female farmer said she has been applying for resettlement for more than 20 years without success. A male farmer said most farms in Hardap Region are allocated to people without livestock, at the expense of successful livestock producers. The programme is intended to cover all kinds of landless, displaced and destitute citizens. The Ombudsman’s Office will hold similar hearings in other regions soon.