Windhoek
Landless youth in Katima Mulilo will apologise for their unruliness last month when they stormed the town council offices and attacked Charles Nawa the chief executive officer (CEO) of the town in their quest for land.
Last month hundreds of youth in Katima Mulilo illegally occupied land at Macaravan East and further took the law into their own hands by stoning the CEO of Katima Mulilo after accusing him of failing to address their plight. This newspaper was reliably informed that after the attack the councillor at Bukalo village, Charles Siyauya, in his personal capacity decided to intervene and engaged the aggrieved youth on the way forward. He reportedly managed to win them over and started mediating between them and the town council to find an amicable solution to their demands for land.
Confirming the mediation yesterday, Katima Mulilo mayor Charles Matengu said that after the attack Nawa the CEO, the chairperson of the management committee Salubila Maswahu and Siyauya arranged a meeting with the group. “I was briefed that firstly the group is going to apologise. Secondly, they agreed to vacate the place they illegally occupied. Thirdly, they were mandated to write down their names,” Matengu said. The names submitted is believed to be around 5 000. Matengu also revealed the town council had a meeting yesterday and the land issue topped the agenda.
“Charles initiated and convened the meeting with the group and convinced them what they are doing is wrong. He did a very good job – he helped a lot in this matter. They agreed that what they were doing was wrong, that is why the aspect of apology is going to come in. Most likely on Friday we will have a press briefing to make public all the details,” the mayor said.
Matengu said following Siyauya’s mediation the protestors have since vacated the area they initially grabbed unlawfully.
Siyauya yesterday said: “I am mediating between the town council and the group. There is a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in place. I cannot share the details at this stage. We will communicate everything on Friday during a press conference.”
The town council never laid any charges and hence no arrest was made. Last month’s anarchy saw close to 200 aggrieved people comprising mainly of youths storm the Katima Mulilo Town Council offices and stone Nawa. The group allegedly blocked the entrance to the town council offices until Nawa reluctantly came out. When the protestors apparently saw that Nawa did not address them, instead proceeding to his car, they resorted to violence by stoning him. Although there was a heavy police presence, the protestors were not shaken and allegedly started to throw stones at the police, who in turn used teargas to disperse the unruly group.
Nawa said the town council was busy servicing land thatwill cater for close to 700 plots and the plots alongside the Zambezi River will also accommodate about 150 people.