The Municipality met with the community on Tuesday evening and tried to convince them to support the relocation of the troubled taxi rank at least for the time being.

City CEO Niilo Taapopi acknowledged earlier community claims that the municipality had not properly discussed the issue with them, but asked them to consider the fact that a lot of resources had been spent on clearing the new area for the move.

"We don't want you to say no," Taapopi said, "because it will not just cost us embarrassment but it has also cost us some resources."

The City has given a number of reasons for its haste to move the Hereford rank from its current location in Katutura.

At present it is opposite another privately owned rank, and taxis stopping at either are claimed to get quite aggressive in persuading customers to use their services.

Another reason, according to municipal spokesperson Elizabeth Sibindi, is the power lines running across Hereford.

"If they were to fall, the City would be held liable for more damage than we can imagine," she said.

Taapopi told residents that Hereford's present position was supposed to be temporary, but because of organisational problems at the Namibia Bus and Taxi Association (Nabta), the latter could only decide on a permanent site by the middle of this year.

"This new site will take a lot of planning," Taapopi said, "We'll need to do surveys and have the planning department look at it.

We have to look at whether it might inconvenience others," he said.

"This place (Donkerhoek)," he said, "was chosen as a temporary place."

Several times during the meeting, community members started short chants of "We say no", and "There's no discussion", but were promptly quietened by the older people among them.

"Our children used to play on this area and then came home," one woman said.

"Where are you sending them now, to become criminals? You're rather bringing the criminals here with that rank."

Another woman, Tangeni Kambangula, told residents that the Danish Embassy had made available around N$400 000 to turn the proposed site into a playground.

After being told this, she said, some of the older people had planted trees in the area, which were uprooted when the municipality came to clear the area.

"We would like to say that the municipality has not wasted money in developing this area,"she said.

"We can keep the lights you've put up, and this place would have anyway been cleared to build the playground, so we see it as an investment."

After failing to persuade the municipality, three young people walked out of the meeting, arguing that the municipality had not come to negotiate but rather to force a pre-emptive decision onto them.

"We are wasting time here," one said.

Shortly afterwards, the meeting was dismissed with the municipality proposing that the community set up a committee to discuss the issue with them.

The community are now set to hand the names of the committee members to the municipality.

Yesterday, the City of Windhoek released a press statement, saying that no compromise had been reached between themselves and the Donkerhoek community.

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