Mariental land crisis eased as ELCRN donates 65 hectares for housing

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) has donated 65 hectares for housing at Mariental.

This was revealed by outgoing Mariental mayor Cherien Kock in an interview with The Namibian last week.

“Mariental has reached its boundaries. . . and does not have land anymore to provide for housing. Currently, we are sitting with a housing waiting list of over 3 000 units that we cannot provide land for,” said Kock.

In a 2023 letter from ELCRN to the Mariental Town Council, and seen by The Namibian, former bishop Sageus /Keib says the donation was made due to the plight of Mariental residents in dire need of housing, and because the council was facing a land shortage, the church wished to intervene to make their burden lighter.

“However, there are families residing on that land already. Our condition as the church is that you give preference to these families in awarding them land and thereafter other people in the same low-income category as these families,” he says.

Kock added that the municipality no longer has farms or greenfield areas available for expansion. She attributed this to the high demand of land.

“Many low-income workers have been retrenched from agricultural plots, and that has led to increased urbanisation as they move into urban areas, placing immense pressure on the local authority,” she said.

Kock said a lack of funding prevents the municipality from purchasing land to plan and establish new townships, further contributing to the urban land and housing shortage.

She added that the council is negotiating with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform to sell five hectares of land for N$5 million to the council.

Moreover, discussions are underway with the line ministry to secure funding for purchasing portion 16 of Farm Kahas No 89.

“Government intervention is sought to purchase the remaining land to accommodate those not yet catered for at Aimablaagte extensions two and three and Empelheim extension five,” said the mayor.

Kock said she is optimistic that the council will be able to address the land challenge to provide residents with land containing water, electricity and sanitation, noting the support from stakeholders such as the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development that approved a budget of N$75 million to formalise informal settlements.

She said that was the biggest challenge the council faced four years ago, as the residents in those informal settlements could not receive services such as electricity and sanitation – and were called “land-grabbers”.

Former Hardap governor Solomon April says he believes the official handing over of the land to the council is expected to take place in early 2026.

April facilitated the donation of the land by the church to the council.

“The state will invite the former and current bishop of the church to do the handing over to the Mariental Town Council so they can move forward with town planning,” says April.

In Empelheim extension five, a re-blocking process has been completed, providing 730 plots averaging 200 square metres, each to accommodate informal settlement residents. Prior to the resizing of stands, residents could live on erven of over 500 square metres.

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