Land battle engulfs Oniipa

ILENI NANDJATO ONIIPA The Oniipa town council in Oshikoto is at loggerheads with a resident over land he claims he was not compensated for. Town council CEO Junias Jakop recently clashed with Matheus Nuuyuni, who is allegedly a member of the 'The Real Oniipans' group that is said to be instigating members of the community to rebel against municipal activities. Nuuyuni claims the council never compensated him for his land. He said he only volunteered a portion of the land for municipal development. The council, however, disputes this claim. Confrontation On 29 April, Jakop and Nuuyuni were involved in a skirmish that was filmed. The video has since gone viral. According to Jakop, Nuuyuni's homestead was valued by the land ministry on the instruction of the Oshikoto regional council in 2015 when Oniipa was still a settlement. Nuuyuni was engaged in 2018 regarding compensation options available to him, the council CEO said. “He was allocated three plots and was compensated N$50 000 for his improvements and fruit-bearing trees.”Swapping plots “Later on, he wrote a letter to the council asking to get some of his plots extended and to swap some of his plots with those taken up by the council, while he already started construction at one of the plots he wanted to swap.” According to Jakop, the council rejected this request, but Nuuyuni went ahead and fenced off the plots. Last August, the council wrote to Nuuyuni, demanding that he remove the fence, Jakop said. “Nuuyuni caused considerable delay in terms of the land servicing project, which was supposed to be completed in December last year. “We therefore were left with no other option but to remove his illegal fence in March, with the assistance of the police,” the CEO said.When contacted for comment, Nuuyuni said he was not preventing development from taking place, but was only protecting his land. He is demanding fair compensation before the council takes ownership of the land. “What they are doing is land-grabbing. “I allocated a piece of the land to the regional council to develop a road, but not to the town council. “The town council never came to talk to us that they were taking our land. Even the land ministry just did their mapping without approaching us,” Nuuyuni said History of tension In 2017, the town council caused tension after it listed the house of soldier Timotteus Ileka as an illegal structure and scheduled it for demolition. Ileka threatened to shoot anyone who dared to demolish the incomplete building.

Land battle engulfs Oniipa

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-18

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Land battle engulfs Oniipa

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-18

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