Africa-Press – Namibia. ARANDIS residents last week staged a demonstration against the town council’s handling of various issues.
Some residents said they have saved money through the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia since 2007 to buy plots from the council, which have still not been fully serviced.
They said the town council has promised to conduct blasting on these plots, which has not been done. Another group said they bought houses from the council in 2009, which were abandoned by former Rössing Uranium employees, who left the town in 2006.
The council allegedly recently informed these residents that the previous owners want their houses back. “They sold houses that do not belong to them. Now the rightful owners have come to claim their houses. This is fraud,” the protesters’ spokesperson, Helena Orus, said last week.
Other residents who have obtained houses through a loan said they have been trying to repay their loans, but the instalment amounts are not decreasing. The residents are also up in arms over unaffordable prepaid water.
They further asked the town council to provide them with proof that the Build Together project exists at the town, and how many people benefited from it. The town’s chief executive officer, Stanley Norris, last week said the former Rössing workers were bondholders with the council.
“They alienated the homes and the bonds, resulting in the houses being vandalised. The council executed the rights of bond holders to stop the vandalising. The houses were allocated to tenants. The council later resolved to grant those who were occupying the homes the opportunity to purchase the homes when the previous owners could not be traced.”
He said transactions could not be executed without the properties being transferred back to the council. “This prompted the council to inform the previous owners to contact the town council to resolve the matter, or donate and transfer their houses to council,” Norris said.
He said some previous home owners want their houses back, while negotiations with 26 owners are ongoing. Norris said that the balances on home loans can only be reduced when the interest and capital amounts on bonds are repaid.
“The payment rate in this regard is extremely challenging and sensitive for many residents, but the loans will only be reduced when their payments are consistent. If not, the interest will accumulate on the account,” he said.
With regards to prepaid water tariffs, Norris said this was only applicable to residents whose water supply has been cut off for several years. A newly promulgated tariff was recently reduced to provide residents relief, he said.
Norris said the land that was allocated to the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia was sold at a reduced rate as it included bulk services only. The group allegedly agreed to complete the rest of the services, he said.
“The association faced hard rock in that area. The council recruited a contractor to assist with the removal of the rock for free, but was unsuccessful as it required heavy-duty machinery.
“The Erongo Regional Council made funds available to try to blast the rock, but on the day of the blast, a new concerned group disrupted the process. An alternative was found, but at a higher cost. The project is not under the council’s capital projects,” Norris said. He said the Build Together project in question has benefited 44 beneficiaries thus far.
