HILENI NEMBWAYA and SAKEUS IIKELA THE Okahandja municipality has instituted an investigation into land deals including plots allocated to former councillors and municipal employees.
This comes after persistent complaints from community members that former councillors and employees illegally allocated land to themselves without following the correct procedures.
Plots allegedly allocated to former mayors Johannes ‘Congo’ Hindjou, Valerie Aron, Helena Shipena, as well as former councillor Niklaas Steenkamp, and a former chief executive officer (CEO), Frans Enkali, are among more than 60 individuals being investigated by the new council.
Some allegedly obtained the plots at a reduced price, while others got land at undisclosed prices.
These plots were allegedly allocated to individuals during a period when a moratorium on the sale of land at Okahandja, imposed by former minister of urban and rural development Sophia Shaningwa, was still in force.
The moratorium was imposed between 2010 and 2015 following allegations that the council, at the time led by Aron, dubiously dished out land to themselves, their friends and politicians.
The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development conducted an investigation into these allegations between 2016 and 2018, but the outcome of this investigation is yet to be made public.
Okahandja municipality’s management committee chairperson Charl Coetzee this week said the new council decided to investigate all land deals made at the municipality over the past 10 years, since they are proving to be a challenge with regards to land allocation.
“We found out that every time we wanted to give out erven [to applicants], there was a situation where it was either already allocated or there were other issues related to ownership. And there are plots allocated, but their ownership cannot be established,” Coetzee said.
He said the individuals implicated will be required to prove ownership of the plots.
“It does not mean people got land illegally, we are just investigating to ensure everything was done in a proper way,” Coetzee said.
A list of the deals in question discussed at Okahandja’s municipal council meeting last month shows that Hindjou was allegedly allocated a residential plot at Okahandja’s Extension 12 at an undisclosed price “without a council resolution”.
Hindjou last week denied being allocated any land during his tenure as mayor.
The list shows that Aron and Steenkamp allegedly both purchased land at Okahandja without following the correct procedure.
Aron allegedly bought three erven, including a public open space at Okahandja, measuring 1 848 square metres, for N$92 400.
She has since constructed a block of flats at the open space.
Aron allegedly owns two other business-zoned plots, measuring 300 square metres each, at Nau-Aib Extension 1, which she allegedly bought for a combined N$41 580.
Steenkamp allegedly bought a public open space measuring 3 458 square metres at Okahandja Extension 3 for N$300 000.
Enkali allegedly bought a residential plot at a location called Okahandja Proper at a price of N$110 810, with no council resolution.
According to the list, Shipena irregularly bought a general residential erf at Nau-Aib Extension 1 at an undisclosed price.
The document states that the purchasing of these erven and some municipal houses took place from 2010 to 2020.
During a council meeting last month, Okahandja’s acting CEO, George Mwazi, requested that the investigation into the questionable deals should be expanded to include more deals.
He said Hindjou was not issued an allocation letter when he purchased his residential erven at Okahandja.
Akser Aupindi, an Independent Patriots for Change councillor, raised the concern that the town would run out of land should illegal land deals be allowed to continue.
He said the culprits should not be left unpunished.
This came after condemning the previous councillors for selling public open spaces to politicians.
“What was so special about them at that time?” he said.
Aupindi accused the former councillors and municipal employees of using their positions for personal gratification and self-enrichment to the detriment of residents.
