WINDHOEK- Some rural areas on the periphery of the city, such as Groot Aub in the south, have not been handed over to the City of Windhoek and this induces land grabbing among other illicit activities.
Other rural areas that have not yet been handed over, is Seeheim to the north up to the Otjozondjupa boundary and Baumgartsbrunn.
Although the City of Windhoek had already approved recommended steps to extend its boundaries to a radius of not less than 30 kilometres in all directions at its 2011 council meeting, the municipality is still in limbo over the official handover of such settlements.
The City’s Corporate Communications and Customer Care Manager, Joshua Amukugo says the city can at the moment not intervene in the affairs regarding such areas until such time the settlements are handed over officially.
Amukungo said a workshop comprising of City of Windhoek, Namwater, Local and Regional Councillors among other stakeholders was to have taken place in March to discuss the way forward regarding the hand over, but never materialised.
“We cannot take over these communal settlements. We can’t take over electricity and water and start charging people rates and taxes like here in Windhoek. Nobody handed over any infrastructure to the City of Windhoek. So City of Windhoek cannot intervene in the affairs of these communal areas until such time these areas are officially handed over to us,” he maintained.
There has been an increase in cases of illegal grabbing over the years particularly in Groot Aub where people flocked to buy plots and construct houses without following proper procedures.
One such incident that caused a stir was the church of controversial prophetess,Elizabeth Sacharias. It is allegedy constructed on prime land it has been occupying illegally, at the Groot Aub settlement.
Although the Ministry of Reconciliation claimed it ‘bought’ the prime piece of land from the Groot Aub Constituency Office, the Khomas Rural Constituency Councillor, Frederick Arie denied ever selling or leasing any piece of land on which the permanent church structure stands.
Sacharias inaugurated the building on April 14, when she and her followers had gathered in Groot Aub to await an earthquake she had predicted.
The earthquake never happened.
The uncontrollable land grabbing practices forced the Khomas Regional Council to put a moratorium in place prohibiting the sale and leasing of state land at Groot Aub, which to this date has not effect as it was never enforced.
Khomas Regional Council Chairperson, Zulu Shitongeni, initially confirmed that the moratorium is still in place. This week he accused the City of Windhoek of being reluctant in taking over the administration of Groot Aub in particular.
The moratorium, announced in an internal document, came into effect in November 2009 and since then there had been no council resolution to revoke it, although the regional council could not since evict anyone illegally occupying land.
“There was an outstanding resolution since 2007 to stop people buying or selling land from Groot Aub until the formalisation of such a settlement. Since the City of Windhoek have extended its boundaries to these settlements, then the land now belong to municipality. The problem is municipality is reluctant to take over the administration of Groot Aub. The confusion of Groot Aub is not lying at the Khomas Regional Council. Any developments at Groot Aub is now under City of Windhoek,” he charged.
Windhoek intends to spread southwards to the border with the Hardap Region including the areas now under the Aris town planning scheme, northwards to the border of Otjozondjupa Region including areas now under the Kapps Farm town planning scheme, westwards as far as Baumgartsbrunn and east to the Seeis area.
The municipality’s decision followed the realisation that land in the city was becoming scarce in terms of demand for serviced erven.
In the case of the Groot Aub settlement, the municipality would be responsible for delivering water, sanitation, electricity, refuse removal and roads.
The municipality would also carry out proper planning of residential and industrial erven at the settlement.