Agribank farm auctions cancelled

Agribank on Friday cancelled two farm auctions after the owners came to the table and settled their arrears. Two farms located in Otjozondjupa were scheduled to be auctioned last Friday. Agribank CEO Sakaria Nghikembua confirmed the auctions had been cancelled at the last minute and that the owners had settled their arrears with the bank. “We thank the clients for acting swiftly to avoid the auctions. The bank reiterates its plea to clients to honour their commitments and reconfirms that it will continue with its collection efforts.”Nghikembua said it is important that the sustainability of the bank is protected, so that it can continue to fulfil its mandate.“It is important to underscore that even if a farm is sold on auction, the deputy sheriff of the court still has to offer it to the Ministry of Land Reform for the latter to exercise its pre-emptive option to purchase.”Earlier last week, Agribank announced it had moved from a soft to a hard collections approach.“This is a last resort for us. There is no other option but to execute on auction. The only thing that can stop the process now is payment of the arrears by the clients before the auction date. In the absence of that, the process will go through to the end,” Nghikembua said. He emphasised that if clients persistently fail to honour their loan repayment commitments, the bank will dutifully follow the same route.He added the bank had not only geared its internal structures to implement recovery strategies much faster than in the past, but has also bolstered its collection efforts by recently adding new law firms to its legal collections panel.Nghikembua said if a client waits until they are listed or until there is a judgement against them, it is too late. “The best is to avoid these two situations by making repayment commitments and making every effort to honour such commitments.”He further said in a media statement last week that Agribank has over the past 18 months requested defaulting clients to make repayment arrangements to settle their arrears.“Some clients have heeded this call and have continued to honour their arrangements. Others have made arrangements and failed to honour them. And others have made no arrangements and no payments, ostensibly on the mistaken understanding that being a state-owned bank, Agribank will not repossess their farms. The bank wants to place on record that it is not its objective to auction any farms, except as a last resort,” he said.Nghikembua said the bank believes that it has allowed for sufficient time to sensitise its clients about the imperative for them to honour their repayment obligations. The bank further believes it has sufficiently indulged its clients, not only to make appropriate repayment arrangements, but also to honour such arrangements.Agribank therefore informed its clients it is intensifying its efforts to move from soft to hard collections. Nghikembua said this means clients not honouring their commitments will be listed on credit bureaus more swiftly, while those who are persistently failing to honour their commitments will have legal action taken against them.According to him a number of files have already been handed over to lawyers for legal action in this regard. The process has also been tightened to ensure that the bank takes legal action against defaulting clients more swiftly than in the past.ELLANIE SMIT

Agribank farm auctions cancelled

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-12

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Agribank farm auctions cancelled

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-12

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