Walvis Bay Council transfers plots to new owners after legal tussle

AFTER a drawn-out legal battle over 88 prime plots at Walvis Bay that were auctioned in December 2003, the Municipality announced that 74 of the properties will now be transferred to their new owners.

“The other 13 properties will be sold after all the necessary formalities as required by law have been complied with,” said the Municipality’s Public Relations Manager, Kevin Adams. “All deposits in respect of [these] properties will be repaid to the purchasers together with interest on such deposits,” he said.Transfer of the 88 sought-after plots was put on ice for nearly two years after property developers Willem Grobbelaar and Herman Davin successfully applied to the court to intervene on the basis that the auction was illegal, unconstitutional and racist.”A specific condition of the auction was that the erven would be offered first to persons classified as previously disadvantaged citizens, provided that only one erf per person is sold.Thereafter all unsold erven were to be offered to the public at large,” Adams said.Grobbelaar and Davin argued that this condition was racially discriminatory since it effectively excluded white potential buyers from the first part of the auction.Adams said: “Not a single purchaser opposed the litigation action that aimed to have [all sales] set aside despite the fact that the litigation was widely advertised in the local news media, received widespread press coverage and was properly served on all such parties in terms of the Rules of Court.”The dispute was finally laid to rest in the High Court last week when the opposing parties reached a compromise to cancel the sale of 14 plots – thirteen in Meersig Extension 1 and one at Langstrand.The agreement was made an order of the court by Judge Louis Muller on Friday and the earlier order that prohibited transfer of properties sold at the auction was lifted.According to Adams, the Walvis Bay Municipality is still committed to achieving balanced demographics in the town’s residential areas and will continue to redress economic imbalances. “All deposits in respect of [these] properties will be repaid to the purchasers together with interest on such deposits,” he said.Transfer of the 88 sought-after plots was put on ice for nearly two years after property developers Willem Grobbelaar and Herman Davin successfully applied to the court to intervene on the basis that the auction was illegal, unconstitutional and racist.”A specific condition of the auction was that the erven would be offered first to persons classified as previously disadvantaged citizens, provided that only one erf per person is sold.Thereafter all unsold erven were to be offered to the public at large,” Adams said.Grobbelaar and Davin argued that this condition was racially discriminatory since it effectively excluded white potential buyers from the first part of the auction.Adams said: “Not a single purchaser opposed the litigation action that aimed to have [all sales] set aside despite the fact that the litigation was widely advertised in the local news media, received widespread press coverage and was properly served on all such parties in terms of the Rules of Court.” The dispute was finally laid to rest in the High Court last week when the opposing parties reached a compromise to cancel the sale of 14 plots – thirteen in Meersig Extension 1 and one at Langstrand.The agreement was made an order of the court by Judge Louis Muller on Friday and the earlier order that prohibited transfer of properties sold at the auction was lifted.According to Adams, the Walvis Bay Municipality is still committed to achieving balanced demographics in the town’s residential areas and will continue to redress economic imbalances.