Mbok land sale postponed again

THE case about the sale of 50 hectares of Helao Nafidi town land close to the Angolan border by Cameroonian would-be developer Antoine Mbok to a British company was yet again postponed in the Windhoek High Court on Friday, when Mbok failed to turn up due to a car accident.

Lawyer Sackey Akweenda, who represented the State, asked Judge Abel Silungwe to grant a final order to prevent Mbok from selling, leasing or donating the huge peace of land, which Mbok wanted to turn into the Northland City development with a shopping mall, offices, townhouses and a recreational area around an artificial lake.However, Silungwe only extended the interim order of October 23 for another court hearing set down for November 27.Until the next court date, Mbok may not auction off the land or sell it, neither may he lease the land or donate it to anyone or any entity. Last month Mbok tried to represent his company himself instead of getting a lawyer, which seriously displeased Judge President Petrus Damaseb.Mbok told The Namibian in October that a British company, EAE plc, was interested in buying the land, but that Namibian authorities were ‘xenophobic’ by preventing him to sell the property.In a letter sent to the office of the Government Attorneys on October 20, Mbok said the court application by the Ministry of Local, Regional Government and Housing to prevent the land sale would ‘in no way affect the equity transaction concluded (with EAE plc).’The Office of the Prime Minister on June 20 2005 commended Mbok’s grand plans in a letter saying it was a ‘noble endeavour’ due to its ‘tremendous benefits and the potential of great economic impact’. The Town Council of Helao Nafidi donated the 50 hectares to Mbok’s company and signed a deed of transfer (No 7252 of 2005) for the plot with him in September 2005. A memorandum of understanding with the Helao Nafidi Town Council followed in December the same year.Since 2005, no development has taken place.Cabinet has since slapped a moratorium on land sales at Helao Nafidi, Oshikango and surrounding areas to investigate irregular and illegal land sales.In his affidavit to the High Court in March this year, when the case was postponed, Erastus Negonga, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local, Regional Government and Housing, said he was unaware of the land sale of 2005 and that this should have been sanctioned by the Ministry beforehand, but had not happened.His Ministry had started an investigation into the irregular land sales in January this year and had only then come across the 50-hectare deal for Northland.brigitte@namibian.com.na