A NUMBER of shacks sprang up again yesterday in the Hakahana informal settlement, a day after they were demolished.
Members of the Huidare build-together community, whose homes were demolished on Tuesday and their belongings dumped on the pavement, took matters into their own hands after spending a night exposed to the elements. Ansie Plaatjies said she and others in the community got together yesterday morning to begin rebuilding homes and breaking the locks on houses from which owners had been evicted. ‘We slept outside last night. We did not get much sleep however,’ she said. There was urgency to rebuild, she said, as many complained of the cold night and the fact that thieves had run off with their belongings during the night, including blankets, mattresses and money.On Tuesday night, the Police were called to calm down a group of infuriated residents, Plaatjies said. She said a number of the evictees were at work when their homes were demolished or locks replaced on their doors.’They cannot destroy our homes without our permission,’ she said. As a result, there ‘was almost a fight’, but she said the Police managed to calm the situation down. That, and the fact that many have nowhere else to go, resulted in some residents deciding to rebuild their homes yesterday. ‘We decided this morning that we will rebuild the houses,’ Plaatjies said. She said Justine Tjombe, whose home was torn down yesterday, put the last touches to her rebuilt home yesterday afternoon. Tjombe, like the rest, is adamant that she will fight her case in court, along with the 37 others who face eviction. She says she can prove that she has paid over N$7 000 for her plot, and the two-roomed shack on it, during the past 10 years.The Huidare Community build-together project has been marked by infighting over money. The community’s elected committee obtained a court order to evict 37 members from their plots, alleging non-payment. Those facing evictions however accuse the committee and others of financial mismanagement and claim they have been paying the City of Windhoek directly. Norman Tjombe, the human rights lawyer who is fighting to get the eviction orders overturned, said he would ‘file the papers very, very soon’.
