Land grab at Otjiwarongo
Otjiwarongo police force members, along with municipal officials had their hands full on Monday as residents, fed up of waiting, attempted to grab land.
More than 100 residents of Otjiwarongo on Monday attempted to grab unserviced municipal land in the new Ombili informal settlement.
Equipped with rakes, shovels, axes and hoes, they started demarcating and clearing land before members of the police, and municipality officials, intervened.
Erwin Haraseb, 33, said he applied for an erf in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and has not received a convincing response yet.
“For how long must my two children and I wait?” Haraseb asked.
He also accused the local authority councillors of “being weak” and wasting time by fighting with each other over petty issues that do not benefit the community.
Another community member, the 50-year-old Aquila Kandanga, said she can no longer afford the exorbitant rent she pays for herself and her five children and wants a place she can call home.
Jeremiah Gawaseb, 33, said he hopes to see the Swapo local authority councillors at Otjiwarongo replaced with candidates of an opposition party after the elections.
“The Swapo local authority councillors must go come 2020, they are incompetent and divisive,” Gawaseb said.
Otjiwarongo's mayor, Bennes Haimbondi, the chairperson of the municipality's management committee, Hilda Jesaja, and Swapo's coordinator for Otjozondjupa, Susan Hikopua went to the site to attempt to calm the angry community members down.
Haimbondi asked them write down their names and said these would be verified on the municipality database to see whether erven had already been allocated to them or whether they are listed under the new applications for land.
“Be patient with us. We are going to service about 4 000 plots for you on this area you want to grab,” said Haimbondi.
The residents agreed to write down their names, but urged the municipality to speed up the promise of servicing land in Ombili.
At the same time, the governor for Otjozondjupa, Otto Ipinge, was expressing his dismay with the exorbitant prices of town land in some of the major local authority councils in the region.
He was speaking at an annual key stakeholders meeting attended by local authority councils of Otavi, Okakarara, Okahandja, Otjiwarongo, Grootfontein and government officials at Otjiwarongo on Monday morning.
The governor described the main purpose of the first annual meeting as a renewal of strength of each government office and all key development drivers in the region.
“However, not much was done last year in terms of development in our towns due to the exorbitant prices of land which scared investors. Our municipalities should not only look into making money, and exclude our own people,” he said.
The governor said the primary purpose of any local authority council in the region is to represent the wishes of the local citizens, despite their political affiliations.
Last year, Ipinge said his office noted down numerous challenges related to poor service delivery by the local authority councils, adding that some challenges were directly triggered by the local authority leaders who failed to adhere to the country's laws, without providing specifics.
The governor then called on the five local authority councils in the region and government offices to regularly provide copies of their monthly reports to his office to allow cooperation, smooth planning and flow of information with other key development stakeholders in the region.
The regional head used the same platform to thank the Paresis Senior Secondary School (SSS) and Otjiwarongo SSS for working tirelessly in 2018 to produce good results in the Grade 12 Ordinary Level examinations.
Ipinge also described Operation Hornkranz, which was launched by President Hage Geingob in December last year, as a success in the Otjozondjupa Region during the festive season, calling for increased crime prevention efforts in the future.
NAMPA
Equipped with rakes, shovels, axes and hoes, they started demarcating and clearing land before members of the police, and municipality officials, intervened.
Erwin Haraseb, 33, said he applied for an erf in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and has not received a convincing response yet.
“For how long must my two children and I wait?” Haraseb asked.
He also accused the local authority councillors of “being weak” and wasting time by fighting with each other over petty issues that do not benefit the community.
Another community member, the 50-year-old Aquila Kandanga, said she can no longer afford the exorbitant rent she pays for herself and her five children and wants a place she can call home.
Jeremiah Gawaseb, 33, said he hopes to see the Swapo local authority councillors at Otjiwarongo replaced with candidates of an opposition party after the elections.
“The Swapo local authority councillors must go come 2020, they are incompetent and divisive,” Gawaseb said.
Otjiwarongo's mayor, Bennes Haimbondi, the chairperson of the municipality's management committee, Hilda Jesaja, and Swapo's coordinator for Otjozondjupa, Susan Hikopua went to the site to attempt to calm the angry community members down.
Haimbondi asked them write down their names and said these would be verified on the municipality database to see whether erven had already been allocated to them or whether they are listed under the new applications for land.
“Be patient with us. We are going to service about 4 000 plots for you on this area you want to grab,” said Haimbondi.
The residents agreed to write down their names, but urged the municipality to speed up the promise of servicing land in Ombili.
At the same time, the governor for Otjozondjupa, Otto Ipinge, was expressing his dismay with the exorbitant prices of town land in some of the major local authority councils in the region.
He was speaking at an annual key stakeholders meeting attended by local authority councils of Otavi, Okakarara, Okahandja, Otjiwarongo, Grootfontein and government officials at Otjiwarongo on Monday morning.
The governor described the main purpose of the first annual meeting as a renewal of strength of each government office and all key development drivers in the region.
“However, not much was done last year in terms of development in our towns due to the exorbitant prices of land which scared investors. Our municipalities should not only look into making money, and exclude our own people,” he said.
The governor said the primary purpose of any local authority council in the region is to represent the wishes of the local citizens, despite their political affiliations.
Last year, Ipinge said his office noted down numerous challenges related to poor service delivery by the local authority councils, adding that some challenges were directly triggered by the local authority leaders who failed to adhere to the country's laws, without providing specifics.
The governor then called on the five local authority councils in the region and government offices to regularly provide copies of their monthly reports to his office to allow cooperation, smooth planning and flow of information with other key development stakeholders in the region.
The regional head used the same platform to thank the Paresis Senior Secondary School (SSS) and Otjiwarongo SSS for working tirelessly in 2018 to produce good results in the Grade 12 Ordinary Level examinations.
Ipinge also described Operation Hornkranz, which was launched by President Hage Geingob in December last year, as a success in the Otjozondjupa Region during the festive season, calling for increased crime prevention efforts in the future.
NAMPA
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