Land dispute turns ugly

An Otjinene businessman, Ernst Merero has accused the Maharero Traditional Authority of trying to stop him from successfully opening a service station in the Otjinene area with land ownership issues being at the centre of the dispute.Merero and the Maharero Traditional Authority are disputing the ownership of a piece of land where Merero has built a service station.He told Namibian Sun he acquired the land which he says belonged to the Roads Authority, with the intention of constructing a filling station. “The land belonged to the Roads Authority at the time and I approached the Roads Authority and they said they are not any longer using the piece of land so if I would like to put up something, I can make use of it,” shared Merero. Merero says after he acquired the land from the Roads Authority he contacted the Otjinene village council with a formal application to build the station in the Otjinene consituency. The then constituency councillor Adolfius Kangootui provided Merero with a recommendation letter in 2013 endorsing the filling station in Otjinene. However, it was later discovered that the piece of land where Merero wanted to build his station did not fall under the village council's town boundaries. Merero was advised to contact the Ovaherero Traditional Authority because the land where Merero wanted to build his station was under their jurisdiction. A letter seen by the Namibian Sun from the Ovaherero Traditonal Authority signed by Chief Ishmael Metirapi granted Merero the right to build his station on the land in question.Merero says in 2014 after he was given the green light by the Ovaherero Traditional Authority he applied for a retail licence which was approved and he also carried out an environmental impact assessment. “I thought everything was in place and then I applied for a retail licence and it was granted,” said Merero.Merero says when he started servicing the land the Maharero Traditional Authority fenced off the land claiming they owned it. Merero charges that the former chairman of the Maharero Traditional Authority Orpa Kenamuinjo, through Putwavanga Investment cc, has the same business interests and that Putwavanga Investment cc also wants to open a service station in Otjinene. Merero said that he had a meeting with the Maharereo Traditional Authority to find out why they fenced off his place and he also wanted to know whether they had any claims to the land. At one of the meetings he was provided a letter which has also been seen by Namibian Sun that grants the Maharero Traditional Authority with a right of leasehold for the same area he wanted to build his service station. Merero says he did not apply for leasehold because he already had an official response from the Ovaherero Traditional Authority to construct the service station. “I couldn't see the need of just going to apply for leasehold because of the indication from the village council that it was in order,” said Merero. He tried to appeal the decision to lease the land to the Maharero Traditional Authority but the window period had lapsed. He says he wrote a letter to the Communal Land Board over the leasehold being granted to the Maharero Traditional Authority who said the leasehold cannot be halted as it was at a too advanced stage. Merero says the Maharero Traditional Authority requested the office of attorney-general to evict him from the area where he built the service station and he received notice on 6 December thereof.Erven Ndjavera, a senior councillor in the Maharero Traditional Authority refuted the allegations made by Merero. Ndjavera claims that the Maharero Traditional Authority deals with land issues outside the boundaries of the Otjinene constituency in Omaheke. Ndjavera said that the Ovaherero Traditional Authority has no right to give out land to individuals in Otjinene because their jurisdiction is only within the Aminuis area. According to Ndjavera they spoke to Merero and informed him that there was another person who wanted to build a service station at the area Merero chose for the service station but he ignored their advice. “When Merero was busy with construction of the service station we informed him that the land was given to someone else. He himself had meeting with the person and he was told that if he was going to construct the service station it would be on their land,” said Ndjavera.“I spent over N$3 million on this building,” said Merero. Documents seen by Namibian Sun reveal that Merero received a N$3 million loan from the Development of Namibia (DBN) to construct the service station. Merero says the service station would have been opened in August 2016. Shona Ngava

Land dispute turns ugly

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-27

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Land dispute turns ugly

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-27

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