Africa-Press – Namibia. Limkokwing University of Creative Technology is on the brink of retrenching staff and relocating due to unaffordable rent.
This was revealed by council member Roman Geingob.
The university, which targeted an annual intake of 300 students has enrolled 159 students.
The financial crisis is due to a disputed rental agreement with the Khomas Regional Council.
The university pays N$100 000 monthly to rent a building from the council, an amount it can no longer afford.
The university offers diplomas, degrees, and master’s degrees in programmes like software engineering, information technology (IT), fashion design, interior architecture, tourism management, and business management.
It is accredited by the Malaysian Qualification Agency through the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia.
Limkokwing University has rented the former Park Foods Mall in Khomasdal since 2019, which is owned by the council.
The first contract lapsed in 2024, but was renewed up to 2027 and signed on 5 July 2024.
Geingob told The Namibian yesterday that they thought the venue was appropriate as they expected a large number of intakes.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, the intake declined drastically.
“We are deemed to not reach our operational cost and we approached the Khomas Regional Council and asked if we can at least engage them to give us a grace period so that we sort our house out in terms of the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA) and localising of our curriculum,” he said.
Geingob said the institution engaged council chairman Shaalukeni Moonde in November 2024.
A letter dated 29 September 2025 to Geingob from chief regional officer Clement Mafwila notes that the council deliberated on the matter on 6 August 2024 and resolved not to reduce the current rental rate.
The council said it could revisit the matter in the future, subject to a thorough assessment of the institution’s financial position and access to its audit statements.
Geingob said the university did this already last year.
“Leaders say education and health are the priority. We are in education, we are not a factory that is manufacturing and making money elsewhere,” Geingob said.
Campus director Josiah Mwashita says the institution sought a financial reprieve during the process of accreditation with the NQA “with the hope that after accreditation, students will be able to enroll in numbers,” he says.
Moonde says the council reduced the property’s rent for several months during the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Their request is for the reduction of the rental fee, unfortunately we cannot do that because we have a contract and the contract is not there to give a reduction fee,” he says.
“What happens to the students is not the landlord’s responsibility because when you applied to put up a school there, you did your thorough market research that you have a plan and is able to give you an income and pay rent,” he adds.
The council considers the property’s N$100 000 monthly rent reasonable and consistent with the property’s commercial value and maintenance obligations, Moonde says.
He says granting a two-year period on the property’s monthly lease fee would severely compromise the council’s revenue base and consequently its ability to deliver essential services to residents as “the complex was specifically developed as a revenue-generating asset to sustain regional programmes, and projects.”
“The council encouraged the university to honour its existing lease obligations, or if unable, to consider relocating to a facility within its financial capacity,” Moonde says.
A final year IT student at the university, Eita Manfred, says this will affect the students because they are busy studying for exams.
“This will cause the students to go on a break if they have to relocate or shut down,” Manfred says, adding that the relocation might cause some students to lose hope in continuing their studies.
“Some students are renting here in Windhoek and they are not from here and it will be very difficult for them to wait for the campus to reopen if they have to relocate.”
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