Tsumeb Council set to make decision on disputed land

THE Tsumeb Town Council will today decide whether to give a disputed piece of land to Mayor Engel Nawatiseb or to former Swapo MP Nico Kaiyamo.

This was after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) ordered that the previous Council decision to award the land to Nawatiseb’s company be nullified since it disadvantaged Kaiyamo’s company.Tsumeb Chief Executive Officer Alpheus Benjamin yesterday told The Namibian that the Council will meet today and discuss the two offers after the ACC asked that the process be restarted.The ACC investigated the controversial land deal in which it was alleged that the company in which Nawatiseb and Swapo Regional Co-ordinator Armas Amukwiyu had interests was favoured over Kaiyamo’s.The piece of land in question is at the junction of the Tsumeb-Oshivelo and Tsumeb-Tsintsabis roads. The company owned by Nawatiseb and Amukwiyu, called Vula Investments, applied to buy the undeveloped piece of land that could have great potential once the Katwitwi road is completed.Former Swapo MP Kaiyamo also expressed interest in the land through his company HNK Investment, and submitted a written application to the Tsumeb Municipality. The local authority at the time acknowledged receipt of his application, which according to ACC investigation was submitted before that of Vula Investments.The council agreed in principle to sell the land to Vula, but the ACC investigation has established that the HNK proposal was never discussed.The ACC concluded that it found it very suspicious that town CEO Alpheus Benjamin failed to submit the first proposal by HNK Investment to the management committee but made sure that the proposal of Vula Investment was tabled at a council meeting.The ACC investigation report also stated that ‘such behaviour disadvantaged HNK and that it could cause Benjamin to be held liable for prosecution under the Anti-Corruption Act’.The ACC recommended that the decision to award the controversial land to Vula Investment be nullified and ordered that HNK’s application also be considered at a council meeting. HNK’s application was submitted on April 14 this year to the CEO’s office while Vula’s was submitted on May 18.ACC Director Paulus Noa told The Namibian that Benjamin will not be charged with corruption because the council had not yet fully approved Vula’s application for the land and that, at the time of the investigation, it is not yet clear whether the property belongs to the council or to someone else. Noa instructed the council to communicate its final decision on the land to ACC, with reasons supporting the decision.If the ACC is not satisfied with the reasons given it will take action, Noa said.The ACC also recommended that in future Nawatiseb should declare his interests in writing and should recuse himself from all meetings where any project or transaction that he has an interest in is discussed.The ACC also cleared Nawatiseb of four other charges relating to false travel claims, unprocedural awarding of tenders and conflict of interest. A charge of favouritism and unfair recruitment also did not stick after a complaint was sent to the ACC stating that Nawatiseb had influenced the process when the council appointed a person with a Basic Education Teachers Diploma as a human resources practitioner.