State House won't stop us
AR is also demanding that the City allocate “low-cost and social houses” in some of its more affluent areas, including Eros, Avis, Klein Windhoek, Auasblick and Kleine Kuppe.
The City of Windhoek has six months to comply with a list of housing and land demands by the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement or else face mass land occupations.
In reference to a 2015 intervention by State House, which averted a previous threat to occupy land, AR said a “failure to respond will result in mass land occupations that will not be stopped by State House meetings”.
Hundreds of AR supporters joined activists yesterday for a march, which culminated in the handing over the list of demands to City CEO Robert Kahimise and National Assembly Speaker Peter Katjavivi.
AR activist Job Amupanda told Kahimise the fight for land and houses has been ongoing for five years and AR and its supporters are gearing up to take the fight to the next level.
“We are really tired CEO. We have been here for five years. We have no plans of coming back. What is going to happen, we will just occupy and occupy and occupy and solve our own problems,” Amupanda said.
He said the handing over of the memorandum signalled a last opportunity for the City to respond. It also described the City as being “in intensive care” and “in urgent need of an operation to save its soul”.
The memorandum's first demand is for the City to immediately put a stop to the demolition of houses, which the AR described as a “ridiculous and barbaric” practice.
It warns that if homes continue to be destroyed, AR activists and their supporters will “retaliate to put a final stop to the continued demolitions”.
Act now or else
AR's list of demands include an immediate stop to the demolition of shacks, the handing over and finalisation of empty houses in Otjomuise, the servicing of erven in Goreangab, and responding to thousands of land applications.
It is also demanding that the City starts allocating “low-cost and social houses” in some of its more affluent areas, including Eros, Avis, Klein Windhoek, Auasblick and Kleine Kuppe. The memorandum accuses the City of having “dismally failed in addressing the housing situation, prioritising elite areas and maintaining the apartheid colonialism urban settlement policy”.
The memorandum's first demand is for the City to cease destroying shacks, which the AR noted “demonstrates the arrogance of the City [and] the cannibalistic levels to which the City has degenerated”.
AR further demanded that the not yet completed houses standing empty in Otjomuise be “allocated and occupied within six months”, otherwise it will step in and “allocate these houses”.
Another demand is for the finalisation of 300 houses in Goreangab. Unless the houses are completed within the six-month timeframe, AR warned it would begin the “final process of servicing and allocating these plots”.
Another demand is for the City to urgently act on the 14 000 applications for land that were submitted in 2014.
AR said the City should begin pre-allocations within the next six months, warning that “failure to respond will result in mass land occupations that will not be stopped by State House meetings”.
Kahimise yesterday thanked the protestors for their input and said the City has a transformational strategy in place intended to address the issues on land and housing, but added that “unfortunately good strategies and plans sometimes take time”.
He added that on the issue of student housing, land was allocated to the ministry of higher education and “is currently out of our hands”.
Moreover, Kahimise said “mass land servicing is a government project, and even empty houses are a government project”.
On the other issues, Kahimise said the municipality has taken note and will deal with them in due time.
The legal route
AR legal counsel Kadhila Amoomo confirmed they were preparing to submit a High Court application challenging the constitutionality of the Squatter's Proclamation.
Amoomo said AR believes the proclamation is a legal framework that “has no place on our law books”.
He said while parts of that law have been challenged before, AR aims to take a “holistic approach to have the entire proclamation struck down”.
He added the application will be submitted before the next scheduled court appearance on 4 June of AR activist Dimbulukeni Nauyoma, who was arrested in January alongside community members while attempting to rebuild a shack that police had torn down during a demolition of illegal structures.
Following the stop at the City of Windhoek the march then continued to parliament, where AR handed over its proposed Regulation of Land Ownership by Foreign Nationals Bill.
The primary objective of the bill is to regulate the foreign ownership of land in Namibia. The document seeks to regulate the acquisition of ownership of land, both urban and rural, by foreign nationals.
The bill states that all agricultural land owned by foreigners will be expropriated once the document is enacted “within three years”.
The bill says that no foreigner shall be allowed to make use of communal land for any purpose, and if any such agreements exist, they will be regarded as illegal and shall be repudiated.
Moreover, the bill, once enacted, is to be regarded as primary legislation, if it is in conflict with any other laws, and it shall be “the subject of proceedings in any foreign court or tribunal, with any disputes to be adjudicated in Namibia”.
In reference to a 2015 intervention by State House, which averted a previous threat to occupy land, AR said a “failure to respond will result in mass land occupations that will not be stopped by State House meetings”.
Hundreds of AR supporters joined activists yesterday for a march, which culminated in the handing over the list of demands to City CEO Robert Kahimise and National Assembly Speaker Peter Katjavivi.
AR activist Job Amupanda told Kahimise the fight for land and houses has been ongoing for five years and AR and its supporters are gearing up to take the fight to the next level.
“We are really tired CEO. We have been here for five years. We have no plans of coming back. What is going to happen, we will just occupy and occupy and occupy and solve our own problems,” Amupanda said.
He said the handing over of the memorandum signalled a last opportunity for the City to respond. It also described the City as being “in intensive care” and “in urgent need of an operation to save its soul”.
The memorandum's first demand is for the City to immediately put a stop to the demolition of houses, which the AR described as a “ridiculous and barbaric” practice.
It warns that if homes continue to be destroyed, AR activists and their supporters will “retaliate to put a final stop to the continued demolitions”.
Act now or else
AR's list of demands include an immediate stop to the demolition of shacks, the handing over and finalisation of empty houses in Otjomuise, the servicing of erven in Goreangab, and responding to thousands of land applications.
It is also demanding that the City starts allocating “low-cost and social houses” in some of its more affluent areas, including Eros, Avis, Klein Windhoek, Auasblick and Kleine Kuppe. The memorandum accuses the City of having “dismally failed in addressing the housing situation, prioritising elite areas and maintaining the apartheid colonialism urban settlement policy”.
The memorandum's first demand is for the City to cease destroying shacks, which the AR noted “demonstrates the arrogance of the City [and] the cannibalistic levels to which the City has degenerated”.
AR further demanded that the not yet completed houses standing empty in Otjomuise be “allocated and occupied within six months”, otherwise it will step in and “allocate these houses”.
Another demand is for the finalisation of 300 houses in Goreangab. Unless the houses are completed within the six-month timeframe, AR warned it would begin the “final process of servicing and allocating these plots”.
Another demand is for the City to urgently act on the 14 000 applications for land that were submitted in 2014.
AR said the City should begin pre-allocations within the next six months, warning that “failure to respond will result in mass land occupations that will not be stopped by State House meetings”.
Kahimise yesterday thanked the protestors for their input and said the City has a transformational strategy in place intended to address the issues on land and housing, but added that “unfortunately good strategies and plans sometimes take time”.
He added that on the issue of student housing, land was allocated to the ministry of higher education and “is currently out of our hands”.
Moreover, Kahimise said “mass land servicing is a government project, and even empty houses are a government project”.
On the other issues, Kahimise said the municipality has taken note and will deal with them in due time.
The legal route
AR legal counsel Kadhila Amoomo confirmed they were preparing to submit a High Court application challenging the constitutionality of the Squatter's Proclamation.
Amoomo said AR believes the proclamation is a legal framework that “has no place on our law books”.
He said while parts of that law have been challenged before, AR aims to take a “holistic approach to have the entire proclamation struck down”.
He added the application will be submitted before the next scheduled court appearance on 4 June of AR activist Dimbulukeni Nauyoma, who was arrested in January alongside community members while attempting to rebuild a shack that police had torn down during a demolition of illegal structures.
Following the stop at the City of Windhoek the march then continued to parliament, where AR handed over its proposed Regulation of Land Ownership by Foreign Nationals Bill.
The primary objective of the bill is to regulate the foreign ownership of land in Namibia. The document seeks to regulate the acquisition of ownership of land, both urban and rural, by foreign nationals.
The bill states that all agricultural land owned by foreigners will be expropriated once the document is enacted “within three years”.
The bill says that no foreigner shall be allowed to make use of communal land for any purpose, and if any such agreements exist, they will be regarded as illegal and shall be repudiated.
Moreover, the bill, once enacted, is to be regarded as primary legislation, if it is in conflict with any other laws, and it shall be “the subject of proceedings in any foreign court or tribunal, with any disputes to be adjudicated in Namibia”.
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