Helao Nafidi – a problematic town of many villages

HELAO Nafidi, the capital of Ohangwena Region, is a town of contrasts and contradictions, with 16 villages and 16 headmen, who all claim jurisdiction over the villages that officially fall under the town.

The town covers 7 221 hectares, but so far only Oshikango is proclaimed, with the town council facing an uphill battle to move the Oshikango town boundaries south and west to make space for development.The town consists of five suburbs, with Oshikango as the business district. Others are Omafo, Engela, Onuno and Ohangwena, which are yet to be proclaimed to be developed as Helao Nafidi suburbs. The irony though is, despite its 7 221 hectares of land there is no land available for the council to develop.The acting chief executive officer (CEO) of Helao Nafidi, Michael Sheelongo, says the development agenda for the expansion of Oshikango and the proclamation of other suburbs forming part of the town has been set, but the problem is traditional leaders.
WHOSE LAND?’We have asked them to stop allocating land, but they are continuing. It terms of the law the land is no longer under their mandate. It looks like they don’t understand western laws,’ Sheelongo says.All communal land, which these 16 villages are, is State land, Sheelongo continues, adding ‘the State declared it town land, so the headmen must surrender the land to the council’.It is not that the land on which the villages are situated will be confiscated without compensation.Compensation, the acting CEO says, has been offered, but the villagers are refusing to sell the land to the council.They say they don’t know where to go if they surrender the only land on which they plant their crops and farm with their livestock.Also the headmen claim to have bought the land on which the villages are from the Oukwanyama traditional authority a long time ago and paid with livestock.Despite the fact that they don’t want to sell to the town council, some villagers in the past have sold land to individuals and in some instances to foreign nationals.Sheelongo said the council had stopped the practice of land being sold to foreign nationals. However, villagers flatly refuse to sell their land to the council. The Namibian learnt from sources that foreign buyers were paying lucrative prices, much more than the council is prepared to compensate the ‘owners’ of the land.The chairman of the Oukwanyama traditional authority, George Nelulu, denied traditional leaders are standing in the way of the development of Helao Nafidi.’We not against the development of the town,’ he said emphatically.He said he is sorry that his people must make way for development, saying there is no other land the traditional authority can relocate them to.He also blamed the town council for not adequately compensating villagers for their land and property to pave the way for Helao Nafidi’s unhindered development. Another prevalent practice that continues in the Helao Nafidi unproclaimed town land is the allocation of land by headmen.’We have made it clear to them that they should stop allocating land. But they don’t stop although the land is no longer under their mandate,’ Sheelongo told The Namibian.PUSHING OSHIKANGO SOUTHOshikango, he says, has been developed to the brim and needs to be extended. There is still a huge demand for serviced land in Oshikango, especially industrial land.A decision has been taken to develop the western part of Oshikango towards the railway station.But, again villagers occupying this land don’t want to move, according to Sheelongo. ‘They don’t want compensation, they don’t want to move. Their claim is that they have nowhere to go, where they can continue with their farming.’Sheelongo says development in the meantime is arrested because ‘subsistence farmers appear to have more rights than the local authority’.He called on the Government to assist them in convincing the farmers to surrender the land to the council in exchange for compensation.Sheelongo says if he had his way, he would have removed the villagers by force to pave the way for development. ‘Something forcefully must be done to pave way for development.’It is not only villagers and headmen who are a headache for the council, Oshipwatapwata informal settlement at Oshikango is another problem. Sheelongo says the settlement is now encroaching on proclaimed areas. The plan is to relocate them to Omafo. The council also wants to relocate Katwitwi informal market. A place had been identified, but that land is also in someone’s field. In the past three financial years, two million dollars were budgeted each year for the relocation of Katwitwi informal open market, but it could not be done because the land must first be ceded to the council by the owner of the field. OTHER DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGESApart from the traditional landowners, Helao Nafidi’s other challenge is the distances between the identified five suburbs.Sheelongo says each of the suburbs have their own characteristics with some situated in flood-prone areas, such as Engela. ‘There is no way you can link the services to the different suburbs. You can’t connect Ohangwena to Onuno.’Service infrastructure development such as sewerage should be done separately, making it more expensive. ‘We have to decide which suburbs to proclaim and develop first,’ Sheelongo says.The council does not have deep pockets although its owns large tracts of undeveloped land. It depends for its income on occupational rent charged for businesses structures set-up in town land. These charges range from as little as N$20 up to N$150.The major income, Sheelongo says, is from water surcharges. The development of the town of Helao Nafidi, starting with expanding Oshikango southwards and joining it with the southern suburbs, will remain a pipe dream if village headmen are not taken along in the process. In the meantime other towns that were proclaimed together with Helao Nafidi have already overtaken it in terms of development.

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.