Glass flies as landlord loses his cool

FRICTION between a landowner and his tenants in Windhoek had neighbours staring in astonishment on Sunday night and yesterday afternoon, as both sides went to extreme measures to prove a point to one another.

A number of broken windows on the controversial plot, situated on Hans Uirab Street in Katutura, yesterday begged to tell the story of what had happened the previous night, when curses and flying stones are said to have filled the air there. Yesterday, the house was in the spotlight again as news cameras descended on it at the request of the tenants, who had by then been locked out of the house by an agitated owner.On one side of the battlefield is the house owner, Lazarus Hansen, who says he is trying to sell it because he’s fed up with non-paying tenants with whom he is not on good terms anyway.On the opposite side are a family of five, as well as relatives of the owner who live in a shack outside, who say they have nowhere else to go if they are thrown out.According to neighbours, Hansen and a group of about 10 people apparently arrived at the house late on Sunday night, wanting to know from his tenants where the rent was.The situation apparently spun out of control, and before long four windows had been broken and people were fleeing in and out of the house.Hansen’s tenants say the ruckus was entirely to be blamed on his group, while he and his wife say that both parties had a hand in the commotion.”We went to the Police to make a case, but they said that he destroyed his own property so there is really no case we could make,” Johannes Moss, one of the relatives living in the backyard, told The Namibian on Sunday night.Hansen apparently promised on Sunday night that he would have his tenants evicted by yesterday afternoon, and sure enough by 16h00 yesterday, his tenants found themselves out in the street as he had the locks to the house changed.The tenants were not to be outdone, however, as they quickly had news cameras and reporters on hand to film their eviction, complete with a mob of curious onlookers from the neighbourhood.The owner of the plot, when approached for comment by a television crew, refused to comment and left the scene.”They don’t pay their rent, so they run to get the cameras for sympathy,” Hansen’s wife, who declined to give her name, told The Namibian.According to Hansen’s relatives who live in the backyard, where Sunday night’s fight reportedly started, he had inherited the house from an aunt.They lived there while she was alive, they say, and see it as an insult that they are now forced to move.By time of going to print, the situation had still not been resolved, and tenants were still outside the house while their belongings were locked inside.Yesterday, the house was in the spotlight again as news cameras descended on it at the request of the tenants, who had by then been locked out of the house by an agitated owner. On one side of the battlefield is the house owner, Lazarus Hansen, who says he is trying to sell it because he’s fed up with non-paying tenants with whom he is not on good terms anyway.On the opposite side are a family of five, as well as relatives of the owner who live in a shack outside, who say they have nowhere else to go if they are thrown out.According to neighbours, Hansen and a group of about 10 people apparently arrived at the house late on Sunday night, wanting to know from his tenants where the rent was.The situation apparently spun out of control, and before long four windows had been broken and people were fleeing in and out of the house.Hansen’s tenants say the ruckus was entirely to be blamed on his group, while he and his wife say that both parties had a hand in the commotion.”We went to the Police to make a case, but they said that he destroyed his own property so there is really no case we could make,” Johannes Moss, one of the relatives living in the backyard, told The Namibian on Sunday night.Hansen apparently promised on Sunday night that he would have his tenants evicted by yesterday afternoon, and sure enough by 16h00 yesterday, his tenants found themselves out in the street as he had the locks to the house changed.The tenants were not to be outdone, however, as they quickly had news cameras and reporters on hand to film their eviction, complete with a mob of curious onlookers from the neighbourhood.The owner of the plot, when approached for comment by a television crew, refused to comment and left the scene.”They don’t pay their rent, so they run to get the cameras for sympathy,” Hansen’s wife, who declined to give her name, told The Namibian.According to Hansen’s relatives who live in the backyard, where Sunday night’s fight reportedly started, he had inherited the house from an aunt.They lived there while she was alive, they say, and see it as an insult that they are now forced to move.By time of going to print, the situation had still not been resolved, and tenants were still outside the house while their belongings were locked inside.