ONGWEDIVA – The chief executive officer (CEO) of Outapi Town Council Ananias Nashilongo says the recent concerns over town rezoning and compensation of people whose homesteads fall within the town’s boundaries are tribally motivated, an allegation dismissed by the community.
Nashilongo, who has only been in office for three months, questioned why communities around Outapi did not challenge the compensation issue when former CEO Oswin Namakalu was still alive.
“My personal judgement is that this is a tribal issue as I am from a different tribe. This never happened to the late CEO. I know that there were people that were not happy with my appointment because I am not a Mbalantu,” said Nashilongo
Nashilongo is of the Uukwaluudhi dialect while the late Namakalu was of the Ombalantu dialect.
Outapi falls within the Ombalantu Traditional Authority boundaries.
Among the people that are now demanding more money are those that received compensation and relocated between 1995 and 1996 before Outapi was declared a local authority in 1997.
At the time, compensation was dealt with by the regional council. Nashilongo joined the Outapi Town Council as an administrator in 2000 and was appointed as the acting CEO after Namakalu’s death in July 2013. According to Nashilongo, there were never major problems before as far as relocation and compensation are concerned in Outapi, until three months ago when he was appointed as the new CEO.
“After all, compensation money does not come from the council’s coffers but from the central government. We are just the coordinators. All we do is measure the land and government compensates the people. Under my watch, amounts close to N$500 000 and N$2.2 million were paid to individuals. It is not the whole community that has a problem, but a group of eight to nine people who are instigating the community,” explained Nashilongo. New Era has a copy of the letter dated November 17, 2014 addressed to the office of the former Governor of Omusati, Sophia Shaningwa, by 14 authors.
A copy was also at the time sent to the highest offices in the country, including the office of the then president (Hifikepunye Pohamba), Founding President Sam Nujoma, Swapo Secretary General Nangolo Mbumba and Deputy Chairperson of the Traditional Authority, Chief Herman Iipumbu. The authors including the retired ELCIN Bishop Josaphat Shanghala complained that relocated people were not fairly compensated and not given enough time for placement.
The authors also claimed that many people signed the compensation forms and accepted money from the authorities because the town council officials went to their homesteads with police officers who forced them to sign the compensation forms against their will.
“Most people that were displaced were compensated with as little as N$30 000 or N$50 000 and N$60 000. With the money, one cannot build a modern house within the town or elsewhere … The officials are not using the same measurements on homesteads and mahangu fields as those that they are using to measure plots within the town.
They are using square metres on town plots and hectares on our land.
“We are not against development, but it looks as if development in Outapi is coming with abuse and exploitation of the natives,” reads the letter.
Bishop Shanghala told New Era he does not intend to sell his land to the council as he already has plans to build a service station, a church, a clinic and law firm offices.