THE owners of three smallholdings near Brakwater, home to around 3 000 people and known as the Mix Camp, have sold the land to the City of Windhoek for N$5,3 million.
All that remains now is the transfer of the property deeds to the Windhoek Municipality. The three portions of farmland belonged to Cabinet Secretary Frans Kapofi, Local Government Deputy Minister Kazenambo Kazenambo and the Mbundu family.The Ministry of Local Government will pay for the land on behalf of the City Council.Kapofi confirmed at the end of last week that ‘the Municipality has taken over Mix’ and that he had ‘signed away (his) rights as far as the transaction is concerned’.’Only the transfer of property is left but it is the Municipality’s land now,’ Kapofi said.Through his company Eluwa Lya Tenda Property, Kapofi sold the land to Government for N$3 780 000 while Kazenambo was scheduled to get N$800 000 and the Mbundu family N$735 000 for their plots.Government has been negotiating the sale since 2008 at the request of the people living there, after the High Court in 2007 granted the landowners permission to evict them.The people have lived at Mix since 1980, when the previous owner, the late Heiner Mix, allowed his workers to settle there for a nominal fee.Mix died in 1999, and the property was sold to Kazenambo and the company Eluwa Lya Tenda Property, owned by Kapofi.Kazenambo later cut up his section of the land and sold part of it to George and Bertha Mbundu .The land is to be placed in the hands of the Windhoek Municipality, which will be responsible for developing it and providing sewerage, lighting and roads.Incidental costs relating to transfer fees amount to about N$90 000, according to sources.Kapofi bought his 57 hectares of land for N$320 000 in 2003 while Kazenambo bought his 29 hectares for around N$150 000 in 2000.The 3 000 residents of Mix Camp requested Government to expropriate the land after the High Court granted the owners permission in December 2007 to evict them.They wrote to the Ministry of Local Government and the City of Windhoek, through the Legal Assistance Centre, appealing that either of the two institutions expropriate the plot in the public interest.The community claimed that they had tried to buy the land from the owners since March 2004, but that their offer had never been considered.In February 2007 and May 2007, that offer was repeated, but they say they did not receive a response.The LAC argued that evicting the people would result in serious social and economic hardship and that no suitable alternative accommodation could be arranged for them at short notice.Many of the community members have lived on the property for about 20 years.christof@namibian.com.na
