High Court orders eviction of Mix Camp residents

POLICE and court officials are set to descend on the Mix Camp at Brakwater next week after lawyers for the owners requested the eviction of the more than 3 000 squatters living at the plot.

Norman Tjombe, Director of the Legal Assistance Centre, confirmed that they have received a notice informing his clients that they will be evicted on instructions from the High Court. The eviction will be carried out in the presence of the Namibian Police, The Namibian understands.The move follows a recent attempt by the squatters to get Government and the City of Windhoek involved in the matter.They appealed to the two institutions to expropriate the 50-hectare plot on Portion 8 of Farm Emmarentia from Eluwa Lya Tenda Property owned by Frans Kapofi, Secretary to Cabinet.Tjombe said Government had informed them that it was a private matter and that there was no reason for them to interfere with the eviction order.The City of Windhoek referred the matter to the City Council but there had been no response by yesterday despite the Council meeting last week.Residents said they were planning to march to Kapofi’s office and stage a peaceful demonstration in front of the building, which hosts the Office of the Prime Minister.Through the Legal Assistance Centre, the community claimed that they had tried to buy the plot since March 2004, but that their offer to Kapofi had never been considered.In February 2007 and May 2007, that offer was repeated, but without any response.The squatters, many of them small children and old people, had been allowed by previous plot owner, Heiner Mix, to live on the property since 1980 in return for a nominal rent.Mix died in 1999 and the plot was then sold to Eluwa Lya Tenda Property.The owners of Eluwa Lya Tenda Property informed the residents that any rent agreement was terminable by “reasonable notice” and that the month and a half they were given last year was enough.The eviction will be carried out in the presence of the Namibian Police, The Namibian understands.The move follows a recent attempt by the squatters to get Government and the City of Windhoek involved in the matter.They appealed to the two institutions to expropriate the 50-hectare plot on Portion 8 of Farm Emmarentia from Eluwa Lya Tenda Property owned by Frans Kapofi, Secretary to Cabinet.Tjombe said Government had informed them that it was a private matter and that there was no reason for them to interfere with the eviction order.The City of Windhoek referred the matter to the City Council but there had been no response by yesterday despite the Council meeting last week.Residents said they were planning to march to Kapofi’s office and stage a peaceful demonstration in front of the building, which hosts the Office of the Prime Minister.Through the Legal Assistance Centre, the community claimed that they had tried to buy the plot since March 2004, but that their offer to Kapofi had never been considered.In February 2007 and May 2007, that offer was repeated, but without any response.The squatters, many of them small children and old people, had been allowed by previous plot owner, Heiner Mix, to live on the property since 1980 in return for a nominal rent.Mix died in 1999 and the plot was then sold to Eluwa Lya Tenda Property.The owners of Eluwa Lya Tenda Property informed the residents that any rent agreement was terminable by “reasonable notice” and that the month and a half they were given last year was enough.