By Mathias Haufiku
WINDHOEK – The City of Windhoek (CoW) this week responded to 14 059 land applications submitted to it by landless Namibians through the mass action of the Affirmative Repositioning movement.
In its letter on Tuesday, the Windhoek Municipality said the applicants may collect their acknowledgement letters from today, between 08h00 and 16h00.
“The public is urged to bring their identity documents for identification purposes,” municipality spokesperson Joshua Amukugo stated in the letter addressed to Affirmative Repositioning head Job Amupanda.
Amupanda confirmed receiving the letter from the City of Windhoek, adding that access to land is a human right that every Namibian should be accorded instead of it being used for profit purposes by the country’s bourgeoisies.
Amupanda said this yesterday as Namibians joined the rest of the world in observing Human Rights Day to commemorate the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Land is a human right for every human being, therefore it should be accorded to every person. You cannot have land being owned by the elite while the masses remain landless,” said Amupanda yesterday. With the municipality having responded to the movement’s mass applications, Amupanda said the prompt response shows “the municipality takes the movement seriously”.
“The municipality saw we are serious and are a threat to their properties. If they do not take us seriously, we the landless will march from Babylon and Agste Laan and other informal locations to their affluent suburbs, go into their houses and eat the food in their fridges while lying in their bedrooms. We are happy they responded,” warned Amupanda.
“We will outline the way forward at the end of the week, not only the landless in Windhoek but all those across the country who are in support of our work.”
Land has become topical in recent months with more and more Namibians choosing to engage in more radical approaches to acquire land. Government has acknowledged the land concern and called for calm.
On Tuesday during the launch of the National Human Rights Action Plan in Windhoek, President Hifikepunye Pohamba said: “Our people feel they are discriminated against because they do not have access to land. The land is owned by the children of those who came to colonize us.”