AROUND 3 000 squatters at ‘Mix Camp’, an informal settlement on a privately owned plot at Brakwater north of Windhoek, have nine more days to get off the land or face eviction.
PF Koep and Company, acting on instructions of owners Eluwa Lya Tenda Property, placed an advertisement in local newspapers last month notifying the community that they need to be off the land by December 31. “Should any of you not have vacated the properties by 31 December 2006, Eluwa Lya Tenda Property cc reserves its rights, amongst others, to approach the High Court of Namibia or any other competent court to obtain the necessary order for your eviction and ejectment from the properties, together with such other additional or ancillary relief that might be necessary or appropriate,” the lawyers said.Residents of Mix Camp, some of whom have lived there for as long as 20 years, are mostly employees of parastatals, businesses and farms in the Brakwater area.The informal settlement started in the 1980s when the former plot owner, the late Heiner Mix, allowed some workers to settle on his property.Since his death in 1999, the settlement has mushroomed in the absence of a landlord.The residents claim that they had an agreement with Mix to stay on the land.The owner of Eluwa Lya Tenda Property, Frans Kapofi, informed the residents that any such agreement was terminable by “reasonable notice” and that the month and a half he gave them was enough.Through his lawyers, Cabinet Secretary Kapofi said the agreement the squatters had with Mix expires on December 31.The publication of the notice was authorised by the High Court on September 11.The residents have, however, vowed to stay put.Monika Pascheka, a neighbour of Mix, said the residents have told her that they had no other place to go to and would remain on the land until they were evicted.Kapofi acquired the 50-hectare plot, Portion 8 of Farm Emmarentia, in July 2003, through the close corporation Eluwa Lya Tenda Property of which he is the sole member.At the time he gave the squatters notice that they would have to pay rent for living there and informed them that they should find alternative accommodation.But they have refused to budge.In 2003, Kapofi set a levy of N$45 a month per shack, which covered the rental fee and grazing fees for small stock.The community pay for water from time to time but Kapofi claims that he pays the rates and taxes.”Should any of you not have vacated the properties by 31 December 2006, Eluwa Lya Tenda Property cc reserves its rights, amongst others, to approach the High Court of Namibia or any other competent court to obtain the necessary order for your eviction and ejectment from the properties, together with such other additional or ancillary relief that might be necessary or appropriate,” the lawyers said.Residents of Mix Camp, some of whom have lived there for as long as 20 years, are mostly employees of parastatals, businesses and farms in the Brakwater area.The informal settlement started in the 1980s when the former plot owner, the late Heiner Mix, allowed some workers to settle on his property.Since his death in 1999, the settlement has mushroomed in the absence of a landlord. The residents claim that they had an agreement with Mix to stay on the land.The owner of Eluwa Lya Tenda Property, Frans Kapofi, informed the residents that any such agreement was terminable by “reasonable notice” and that the month and a half he gave them was enough.Through his lawyers, Cabinet Secretary Kapofi said the agreement the squatters had with Mix expires on December 31.The publication of the notice was authorised by the High Court on September 11.The residents have, however, vowed to stay put.Monika Pascheka, a neighbour of Mix, said the residents have told her that they had no other place to go to and would remain on the land until they were evicted.Kapofi acquired the 50-hectare plot, Portion 8 of Farm Emmarentia, in July 2003, through the close corporation Eluwa Lya Tenda Property of which he is the sole member.At the time he gave the squatters notice that they would have to pay rent for living there and informed them that they should find alternative accommodation.But they have refused to budge.In 2003, Kapofi set a levy of N$45 a month per shack, which covered the rental fee and grazing fees for small stock.The community pay for water from time to time but Kapofi claims that he pays the rates and taxes.
