City endorses ‘Mix’ sale

THE Windhoek City Council on Thursday night endorsed Government’s decision to acquire a part of the Emmerentia farm near Brakwater, possibly solving the dilemma of about 3 000 people living there illegally.

Council approved the buying of three portions of farmland, which belong to Cabinet Secretary Frans Kapofi, Local Government Deputy Minister Kazenambo Kazenambo and the Mbundu family respectively, for a total of N$5,3 million, during a closed-door session preceding last week’s council inauguration ceremony.Kapofi, Kazenambo and the Mbundus’ land plots are being sold to Government at N$3 780 000, N$800 000 and N$735 000 respectively.Government has been negotiating the sale since 2008 at the request of the community living there, after the High Court in 2007 granted the landowners permission to evict them.The community has lived there since 1980, when the previous owner, the deceased Heiner Mix, allowed his workers to settle there for a nominal fee.Mix died in 1999, and the property was sold to Kazenambo and the company Eluwa Lya Tenda Property, owned by Kapofi.Kazenambo later cut up his section of the land and sold three of his five hectares to George and Bertha Mbundu .The land is to be placed in the hands of the Windhoek Municipality, which will be responsible for developing it and providing sewerage, lighting and roads.The City won’t pay for the land – the money will come from the Central Government’s Development Trust Fund for regional Development and Equity Provisions.Information from Thursday’s closed-door meeting was that a number of councillors raised concerns over where the money for the development of the land will come from, despite Government’s assurance that the City will not be held responsible.’With Ramatex we saw the same thing. We were told, ‘you do the development so long and Central Government will bring its 50 per cent later’. We know that up to today that hasn’t happened,’ one councillor told The Namibian.The council apparently requested the CEO to get written confirmation from Government that the City will not be held responsible for these amounts.’If that’s not sorted, the City will have one way of getting that money back, and that’s raising rates,’ a source said.Incidental costs relating to transfer fees alone amount to about N$90 000, the source said.Opposition councillors also apparently accused Kapofi and Kazenambo of orchestrating self-enrichment deals for themselves through the farm sale, despite complaints by the outgoing owners that they will now forfeit income that would have been gained from projects intended for the area.Kapofi had initially asked for more than N$4 million for his land, while Kazenambo had asked for N$1,1 million. The Mbundus initially asked for N$1,07 million.