Omaruru councillor in hot seat over evicted resident

An Omaruru councillor is being accused of abusing his influence to evict a resident from a plot at Hakahana he allegedly wants to claim.

The accused, Mangundu Sigberth, serves as the Omaruru management committee chairperson.

After the resident last month refused to leave the involved plot, which is situated on erf 1841, Hakahana extension 5 at Omaruru, his shack was removed by an excavator.

Community members, however, came to the resident’s rescue by halting his eviction.

Johannes Sheehama, speaking on behalf of his brother, last week said his older brother has been living at the plot long before the rest of the community.

Due to a chronic health condition his brother is suffering from, however, a neighbour took the opportunity to “steal” his erf number and register it in his name.

“We were not aware that the registration of my brother’s erf was changed, and upon finding out, we have been fighting for justice, but with no success,” Sheehama said.

He said the neighbour in question already has a plot, but is in cahoots with Sigberth, who wants to turn the area into a business space since the plot is close to the town’s main road.

Sheehama said they will not move until the matter is ratified as they are not illegally occupying the plot, as stated in the municipality’s eviction order.

He said he and his brother want an audience with the municipality.

Sigberth on Tuesday refuted any involvement in the eviction of Sheehama’s brother, citing that such accusations seek to tarnish his reputation.

“I was never involved in the eviction, nor do I have any agenda, but what I understand is that the man was willing to move, but the community instigated him to remain.

“A plot has already been made available for the man, and the municipality has provided transport to ferry his materials,” he said.

Sigberth believes the matter is being politicised by some political parties, adding that it has been an issue since 2008, while he only joined the council in 2021.

Omaruru Town Council chief executive Sindano Valentinus says Sheehama’s brother was notified about his eviction last year already, and that this was moved to 3 March because of the residents’ non-compliance.

“We notified the resident to remove his shack and be relocated to erf 2403 at Ozondje extension 7 as he was settling there illegally.

“But due to non-compliance the municipality had to evict him, and he was notified when we would do it,” he says.

Valentinus says erf no 1841, which the resident is currently occupying, indeed belongs to another person, and for services to be provided each resident must own one plot.

He says the municipality is faced with the illegal occupation of land, involving that one plot which is occupied by more than three people, with each claiming a portion of that plot.

Valentinus says this is what happened with the eviction matter, citing that the resident was occupying a portion of someone else’s plot and had to be relocated to his own plot rather, with transport provided.

Despite municipality efforts to meet the resident halfway, the community’s instigation led to him refusing to leave, Valentinus says.

He says the resident was initially willing to move.

“As a municipality we understand the dire need for land, but the illegal occupation of plots will not be accepted.

“We are also in the process of providing plots to residents in an effort to address the mushrooming of shacks, and also to have orderly plots for ease of counting when we electrify and set up all the needed services,” he says.

United Democratic Front branch chairperson Eberth ‘Xurebasen’ Gariseb last week expressed disappointment in the manner in which the resident was evicted.

He said this was without prior communication, and while his belongings were still inside [his shack].

“Any eviction of such a nature will not be tolerated. The resident has been residing there for many years, but for the municipality to come and evict him by destroying his whole shack, is not right.

“The community took matters into their own hands and surrounded the area to stop the injustice,” he says.

Gariseb said Sheehama’s brother has been paying his water and electricity bill and does not understand why he is being evicted.

He condemns such unethical behaviour, he said.