Widow wins court battle over grabbed Ongandjera land and property

Legal affairs head accused of ‘illegally occupying land’

The Oshakati High Court recently ordered Windhoek City Police deputy chief Eliaser Iiyambo to return land and property taken from a widow in the Ongandjera communal area.

Iiyambo was taken to court by the Ongandjera Traditional Authority for allegedly illegally occupying the widow’s land and property.

The judgement, delivered by judge David Munsu in the Oshakati High Court on 31 July, follows a legal battle in which Iiyambo and his brother, Simon Iiyambo, were accused of evicting Aili Iilende from her matrimonial home at Olundjinda and a farming unit at Etunda in the Ongandjera communal area shortly after the death of her husband, Daniel Uutoni, in 2019.

According to court documents, the judge expressed dismay over the ongoing “property grabbing” of widows, noting that the defendants unlawfully deprived Iilende of her home and land.

The case was brought by the Ongandjera Traditional Authority, its chief, Johannes Mupiya, the Omusati Communal Land Board, the estate of the late Uutoni, and Iilende herself.

The plaintiffs were represented by lawyers Jabulani Ncube from the government attorney’s office and Augustinus Shapumba of Shapumba & Associates Inc., while the defendants were represented by Lydia Ambunda-Nashilundo of Slogan Matheus & Associates.

“The defendants (the Iiyambo brothers) must return the keys of the residential unit situated at Olundjinda village, Ongandjera, to the fifth plaintiff and must provide vacant, peaceful and undisturbed possession of the residential unit at Olundjinda village, Ongandjera, and the farming unit at Etunda village, Ongandjera, to the fifth plaintiff within 10 days of this order.

“The defendants and all those in occupation of the premises are hereby evicted from the aforementioned residential unit at Olundjinda village, Ongandjera, and the farming unit at Etunda village, Ongandjera. The defendants are ordered to pay the costs of the plaintiffs,” the order says.

Evidence before the court showed that, after Uutoni’s death, the Ongandjera Traditional Authority held a hearing in October 2020 and ruled that land rights should devolve to his surviving spouse.

The defendants, however, refused to comply, locking her out of the house and taking possession of movable property, including vehicles, which had to be recovered by the estate administrator through a court order.

Munsu in his judgement said: “It is regrettable that property grabbing still happens in this day and age.

The court is concerned about how the widow was dispossessed, by the deceased’s relatives, of some of the movable properties that formed part of the joint estate.”

However, the defendants argued they were entitled to the land because they had allegedly been given consent by the late Uutoni.

In their defence, the Iiyambo brothers said they lived with Uutoni for most of his life and that he was never allocated farming and residential units at Olunjinda village.

They further claimed the property belongs to Iiyambo according to customary law.

The brothers said in respect of the farming and residential unit at Etunda village it was customarily allocated years ago to another late uncle of theirs, Eino Iilende.

The Namibian in 2022 reported that Hilma Uushona, who says she grew up with the Iiyambo brothers, in her witnesses statement says before her grandfather died, he told her and other family members that his homestead should be taken over by his nephew, Eliaser Iiyambo, after his death.

Upon his death the family held a post-burial meeting during which it was decided that Iiyambo would inherit the farming unit, Uushona says.
At that occasion, Iiyambo allegedly told family members he would allow Uutoni to cultivate the mahangu field.

Iilende, however, says the letter that was read at the post-burial meeting was fake.
“They chased me out of the house and locked it,” she says.

Iilende says she is staying at Oshakati East and does not own a village house any more.

DENIAL
Iiyambo last year said the property at Etunda first belonged to his late uncle Eino Iilende.

He said the late Iilende allocated the property at Etunda to him in the presence of relatives before his death.

While Uutoni was using the land to cultivate crops on, it did not belong to him and was not registered in his name, Iiyambo said.

“Uutoni was just using the crop field to farm his crops, so soon after he passed away I took over my field, and that is when the whole saga started,” Iiyambo said.

“The crop field is still registered in Eino Iilende’s name, who was the rightful owner,” he said.

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