NEWS - NAMIBIA
| 2013-07-30Squatters confused over court ruling
Ndanki Kahiurika
“WE fought for this land like we were fighting for independence all over again.”Those are the words of Petrus Shaanika, a shack dweller who believes that a recent court ruling in their case against the City of Windhoek was victory for them.
Shaanika is among the shack dwellers who were caught up in a web of confusion over the court decision as the group believes that they have acquired land ownership due to the recent Supreme Court ruling, which found the City of Windhoek’s demolition of their shacks without a previous court order authorising it to be unconstitutional.
The squatters had settled illegally around 2007, making them the first inhabitants in the said section of Havana. However, in its attempt to clear the city of squatters, the city police had demolished their makeshift homes without authorisation.
Thus 48-year-old Shaanika and ten others then obtained a court interdict, which halted the city from taking further action against them. They scored a further legal victory against the city on 15 July 2013, when the Supreme Court declared parts of the Squatters Proclamation of 1985 as unconstitutional.
However, a surviving section of the Squatters Proclamation still states that any person who lives on land without lawful consent of the owner is guilty of an offence.
The squatters who now seek to start business and build permanent houses expressed their happiness at the prospect of land ownership.The self-employed construction worker Shaanika expressed his joy at the court victory that was elevated by the his acquisition of a plot in Otjomuise, which he allegedly got after a reported ten years of waiting.
“I applied for an erf in 2004 but only now is my application through,” said Shaanika. He added that he plans on giving the plot in Havana to his brother to live on.
Shaanika had moved from the north in 1988 and allegedly lived at a National Housing Enterprise compound in Wanaheda, but after a while they (NHE) reportedly started selling and renting the rooms. “We were forced to move elsewhere hence we came to live here illegally,” said Shaanika.
Another settler is 50-year-old Joseph Matsuib, who came to live in Windhoek in 2009 after serving a five year sentence in the Hardap prison outside Mariental.
Matsuib said he is very happy about this victory as he now has a permanent place to stay.
“We rented for a while but my job as a security guard at the time only paid a small salary of N$ 750 and I could not afford to support both my family and pay rent,” said Matsuib. “I am glad I have my own land and with my business registered, I can officially start my business here and use the money to build my family a house.”
Matsuib renders his services of handmade seat covers amongst others to various upholster companies.
City of Windhoek’s spokesperson Joshua Amukugo recently urged squatters not to assume that squatting is now legal as the city can still go to court to obtain an eviction order against illegal occupants. “It [the court ruling] does not imply that the illegal occupation of land is legalised,” said Amukugo.
Where eleven shack dwellers originally set up on land owned by the City of Windhoek in 2007, now stand plenty of houses shining way in the Namibian heat.
The city pointed out the main reason for squatting as being the migration of people from small towns to the big cities in search of jobs and better opportunities. Human Rights lawyer Norman Tjombe who represented the squatters, said that housing issues needed to be dealt with lawfully and without resorting to using unconstitutional means such as demolishing shacks without a court order.
Tjombe added that government is now forced to relook at their programme to deliver housing and thus ensure that it is in line with their respective constitutional obligations and the residents constitutional rights to a dignified life
Shaanika is among the shack dwellers who were caught up in a web of confusion over the court decision as the group believes that they have acquired land ownership due to the recent Supreme Court ruling, which found the City of Windhoek’s demolition of their shacks without a previous court order authorising it to be unconstitutional.
The squatters had settled illegally around 2007, making them the first inhabitants in the said section of Havana. However, in its attempt to clear the city of squatters, the city police had demolished their makeshift homes without authorisation.
Thus 48-year-old Shaanika and ten others then obtained a court interdict, which halted the city from taking further action against them. They scored a further legal victory against the city on 15 July 2013, when the Supreme Court declared parts of the Squatters Proclamation of 1985 as unconstitutional.
However, a surviving section of the Squatters Proclamation still states that any person who lives on land without lawful consent of the owner is guilty of an offence.
The squatters who now seek to start business and build permanent houses expressed their happiness at the prospect of land ownership.The self-employed construction worker Shaanika expressed his joy at the court victory that was elevated by the his acquisition of a plot in Otjomuise, which he allegedly got after a reported ten years of waiting.
“I applied for an erf in 2004 but only now is my application through,” said Shaanika. He added that he plans on giving the plot in Havana to his brother to live on.
Shaanika had moved from the north in 1988 and allegedly lived at a National Housing Enterprise compound in Wanaheda, but after a while they (NHE) reportedly started selling and renting the rooms. “We were forced to move elsewhere hence we came to live here illegally,” said Shaanika.
Another settler is 50-year-old Joseph Matsuib, who came to live in Windhoek in 2009 after serving a five year sentence in the Hardap prison outside Mariental.
Matsuib said he is very happy about this victory as he now has a permanent place to stay.
“We rented for a while but my job as a security guard at the time only paid a small salary of N$ 750 and I could not afford to support both my family and pay rent,” said Matsuib. “I am glad I have my own land and with my business registered, I can officially start my business here and use the money to build my family a house.”
Matsuib renders his services of handmade seat covers amongst others to various upholster companies.
City of Windhoek’s spokesperson Joshua Amukugo recently urged squatters not to assume that squatting is now legal as the city can still go to court to obtain an eviction order against illegal occupants. “It [the court ruling] does not imply that the illegal occupation of land is legalised,” said Amukugo.
Where eleven shack dwellers originally set up on land owned by the City of Windhoek in 2007, now stand plenty of houses shining way in the Namibian heat.
The city pointed out the main reason for squatting as being the migration of people from small towns to the big cities in search of jobs and better opportunities. Human Rights lawyer Norman Tjombe who represented the squatters, said that housing issues needed to be dealt with lawfully and without resorting to using unconstitutional means such as demolishing shacks without a court order.
Tjombe added that government is now forced to relook at their programme to deliver housing and thus ensure that it is in line with their respective constitutional obligations and the residents constitutional rights to a dignified life
