The other side of the Mix Camp coin

A GROUP of people, calling themselves the Emmarentia-Brakwater Residents’ Committee, say the squatters at Mix Camp are making life difficult for them.

The group, most of whom own land near the Mix Squatter Camp at Brakwater, 20 km north of Windhoek, say they are “suffering at the hands of others within the (Mix) community”. In a statement sent to The Namibian, the committee claims there is widespread lawlessness such as stabbings, assaults and illegal trading, illegal use of firearms, illegal shebeens, trespassing, littering, pollution, threats from Mix residents, theft and burglaries in the area and overgrazing on their property.And, because of the illegal slaughtering and sale of meat and pollution of their properties which have become toilets, the land owners claim their property prices have dropped dramatically over the past years.”We have written numerous e-mails to the municipality complaining about what is happening, all to very little avail.Recently we have been assured that the City Police would be moving into the area to assess the situation and work out a plan of action,” the committee said.Despite their complaints over the past three years, the landowners say there has been no response from the authorities.”We cannot live in these conditions any longer,” they said.Recently one of the owners had an unpleasant experience when shots were fired over his roof.”As ratepayers our rights are being trampled upon and we have to endure these actions from people who have been declared illegal by the High Court.Mr (Frans) Kapofi has spent thousands of dollars to have people removed from his investment, all to no avail.”It appears that in Namibia today only the rights of criminals and morally corrupt people are being protected,” the committee said.Earlier this year, the High Court declared that the 3 000 residents of Mix Camp were illegal squatters and ordered them to vacate the land.However, the residents instead offered to buy the 50-hectare plot from Eluwa Lya Tenda Property of Kapofi.The residents, many of them small children and old and frail people, had been allowed by previous plot owner Heiner Mix to live on the property since 1980 in return for a nominal rent.Mix died in 1999 and the plot was then sold to Eluwa Lya Tenda Property.The owners of Eluwa Lya Tenda Property informed the residents that any rent agreement was terminable by “reasonable notice” and that the month and a half they were given last year to pack up was enough.Kapofi’s neighbours said there were law-abiding citizens living at Mix, “but the situation has spiralled out of control”.”We cannot sit idly by and watch our hard-earned investments go down the drain.If this had been within the borders of the City of Windhoek it would never have been tolerated by the Municipality.”The fact is that it has been politicised and everyone is too afraid to get involved and has adopted a wait-and-see attitude,” the residents said.The committee has organised a clean-up campaign that will take place on Saturday morning along Emmarentia Street leading to Mix Camp.In a statement sent to The Namibian, the committee claims there is widespread lawlessness such as stabbings, assaults and illegal trading, illegal use of firearms, illegal shebeens, trespassing, littering, pollution, threats from Mix residents, theft and burglaries in the area and overgrazing on their property.And, because of the illegal slaughtering and sale of meat and pollution of their properties which have become toilets, the land owners claim their property prices have dropped dramatically over the past years.”We have written numerous e-mails to the municipality complaining about what is happening, all to very little avail.Recently we have been assured that the City Police would be moving into the area to assess the situation and work out a plan of action,” the committee said. Despite their complaints over the past three years, the landowners say there has been no response from the authorities.”We cannot live in these conditions any longer,” they said.Recently one of the owners had an unpleasant experience when shots were fired over his roof.”As ratepayers our rights are being trampled upon and we have to endure these actions from people who have been declared illegal by the High Court.Mr (Frans) Kapofi has spent thousands of dollars to have people removed from his investment, all to no avail.”It appears that in Namibia today only the rights of criminals and morally corrupt people are being protected,” the committee said.Earlier this year, the High Court declared that the 3 000 residents of Mix Camp were illegal squatters and ordered them to vacate the land.However, the residents instead offered to buy the 50-hectare plot from Eluwa Lya Tenda Property of Kapofi.The residents, many of them small children and old and frail people, had been allowed by previous plot owner Heiner Mix to live on the property since 1980 in return for a nominal rent.Mix died in 1999 and the plot was then sold to Eluwa Lya Tenda Property.The owners of Eluwa Lya Tenda Property informed the residents that any rent agreement was terminable by “reasonable notice” and that the month and a half they were given last year to pack up was enough.Kapofi’s neighbours said there were law-abiding citizens living at Mix, “but the situation has spiralled out of control”.”We cannot sit idly by and watch our hard-earned investments go down the drain.If this had been within the borders of the City of Windhoek it would never have been tolerated by the Municipality.”The fact is that it has been politicised and everyone is too afraid to get involved and has adopted a wait-and-see attitude,” the residents said.The committee has organised a clean-up campaign that will take place on Saturday morning along Emmarentia Street leading to Mix Camp.