ERYF wants Swakop Council to stop selling land

THE Chairperson of the Erongo Regional Youth Forum (ERYF), Ernest Weather, on Wednesday told the Swakopmund Town Council ‘to stop selling land and gambling with the people’s assets’.

A media statement in this regard was sent to all the newspapers and electronic media via e-mail.His statement comes shortly after the 20th Independence Anniversary message of Elijah Ngurare, Swapo Youth League Secretary, in which Ngurare criticised the ‘irresponsible’ manner in which some town councils treated property ownership, alienation programmes and ‘the inheritance of our youth’.’It has come under our attention that the Swakopmund Town Council has changed its policies regarding land alienation whereby bulk land developers benefit substantially in that they do not have to pay for land for those sections that will be used for streets, sidewalks, pavements, public open spaces, parks etc,’ Weather’s statement read. ‘This was done in spite of the land being given to them for nearly next to nothing, and where it was all the years policy to charge also for those sections that should be donated back to council after development.’According to him, this was done after ministerial approval was granted for alienation of these sections of land while the selling prices were already advertised and dealt with for objections. ‘Not only is this a huge violation of the conditions of selling for these pieces of land being changed, but will eventually create a loss of income of up to N$32 million for the taxpayer and money that could have been used for the creation of land for the previously disadvantaged,’ Weather said.He said the ERYF condemned this in the strongest sense and called on the Minister of Regional and Local Government and Housing to ‘compel’ the Swakopmund Council to stick to its original prices and conditions of sale as advertised. ‘We warn the CEO, that should he or any of his representatives proceed in selling these pieces of land by way of signing any documents, he will have to deal with the consequences thereof,’ the ERYF chairman said.He said it also came to the forum’s attention that council allegedly overruled all valid objections made regarding land sold through private treaty.’Council should refrain herewith with immediate effect as you (Council) are gambling with the assets of the people, and disregard our inheritance in allocation land left, right and centre for so-called tourism projects,’ he said, referring to prospective developments on the Swakop River banks overlooking the dunes. ‘This is prime land and we will not allow the alienation of prime land to be sold through private negotiation to those who, over all the years, benefited by being the only ones that had access to capital anymore,’ said Weather.According to him, Swakopmund has a lot of land already allocated for hotel development and the council should refrain from selling more land for such projects until ‘at least 75 per cent’ of the current projects are completed.He said political parties should take these issues into consideration when nominating council candidates during the upcoming regional and local government elections, adding that those who make themselves guilty of favouritism are not worthy of serving the community in such positions. ‘We have some real investors who are capable of making meaningful contributions to economic diversification, growth and job creation for Namibians, and not those so-called investors who want all prime land for themselves through suspicious deals of council officials,’ he concluded.The office of the Swakopmund CEO, Eckart Demasius, said a response to the ERYF’s statement would be forthcoming.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.

The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency, while maintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.