Oshikuku land dispute flares

A LAND fight has erupted between the Oshikuku Village Council and the Oshikuku community after the council decided to develop a piece of land used as a graveyard.

The move has angered the community and the local Roman Catholic Church. The land is at the Roman Catholic Church mission at Oshikuku and was given to the mission by Uukwambi King Iipumbu ya Shilongo in 1924.’We are not against development but what they are doing is not good,’ said an unhappy Vicky Ambambi, the chairperson of the RCC at Oshikuku.She said the church last year asked church members to collect money to replace the old cemetery fence.A few days after they started putting up the new fence, Ambambi received a call from the Oshikuku Village Council telling her that they should stop erecting the fence, as they were fencing off council land where plots were to be developed.Shocked by the council move, Ambambi called a community meeting with the council in April, where the people made it clear that the land belonged to the church and not the council. The meeting ended in disagreement as the council insisted that the land was theirs, said Ambambi.Towards the end of last year, council trucks started doing earth-works in the cemetery.’They even cut some parts of our fence. People are so angry to see their late loved ones’ graves being destroyed,’ she said.Ambambi said they took the matter to the head of the Uukwambi Traditional Authority, Chief Herman Iipumbu, who told them that mission land couldn’t be touched for development.Ambambi, with the support of the community, has now approached the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) for help. ‘Norman Tjombe (the Director of LCA) wrote a letter to them to stop while the matter is being investigated,’ she said.The Secretary of the Oshikuku Village Council, Aktofel Amakutuwa, denied the allegations, saying the land in question was not part of the existing cemetery but adjacent to it. He said it was council land and would be developed.’They are saying it is for cemetery; it is for plots and it is even registered with the Deeds Office. Mr Erastus Negonga (the Permanent Secretary of Regional, Local Government and Housing) has also explained to them,’ said Amakutuwa.He confirmed that the LAC had written to the council on the matter and said they had responded. absalom@namibia.com.na