Questions over NFA's Soccer House

Questions surrounding the deed of sale of a property in Katutura that was bought by the Namibian Football Associations (NFA) around 15 years ago were raised before the City of Windhoek's management committee due to failure to add the NFA's name to the document.

In May, Nudo Windhoek councillor Joseph Kauandenge requested the City of Windhoek to explain the lack of the NFA's name on the deed of sale, which still shows the City of Windhoek's name, despite the NFA having purchased the property in 2002 for just under N$60 000.

“It has come to my attention that there is this Erf 339 in Katutura, where the current Soccer House is hosted, that continues to be on the city's property list, while the NFA has apparently paid for it already.”

In an official response provided to Kauandenge at the May council meeting, the city's CEO Robert Kahimise confirmed in writing that “it is unclear as to why the Erf was never transferred into the name of NFA, as a result remaining in the name of City of Windhoek.”

He said that the reason for the 15-year delay in the transfer would be investigated by the Department of Urban Planning and Property Management and “if it is found that there is a valid reason for the said delay, same will be addressed in order for the transfer to be effected immediately.”

In a response to Namibian Sun last week, the city's management confirmed that as per a council resolution in 1999, the sale of Erf 339 in Katutura to the NFA was approved in principle at a purchase price of N$95,855.76.





Plans changed, however, as per council resolution 351/10/2000, when the city approved the subdivision of Erf 339 Katutura into Portion A and remainder, to accommodate a bus and taxi rank, and instructed that the remainder of the Erf, now smaller than initially intended, be sold to the NFA at a reduced purchase price of N$58 119.88.

In response to Kauandenge' s enquiry, and a request for details on the sale price and the date of the transactions, the property division verified property records and shared their findings with him in writing at the council meeting at the end of May.

According to Kahimise, the subdivision of the property, and the resulting smaller portion for the NFA, led to delays in the subdivision process and the sale of the erven.

On completion of the process, the deed of sale was finally signed on 15 July 2002.

The recent deed inspection by the city showed that the transfer into the name of the NFA, however, did not take place, and Kahimise said “it is not known as to why the erf was never transferred.”

The city confirmed that the NFA has since the sale 15 years ago been “paying for the rates and taxes” on the property.

Further investigations will be carried out to determine “if there were any technical reasons” for the failure to transfer the name, and after that the NFA's name will be transferred “without any further delays.”

Kauandenge in a statement to the media said the response to his questions, and the “shameless” admission that the deed of sale was not transferred into the name of the NFA, had led to more questions.

“I'm really not satisfied with that answer, as it seems there are a lot of questions still to be asked regarding this piece of land,” he said, motivating his decision to make the issue public.



JANA-MARI SMITH