KATIMA MULILO – In spite of the nationwide housing crisis the Katima Mulilo Town Council sits with close to 300 undeveloped plots in fully serviced residential areas.
The undeveloped plots were allocatted to residents in fully serviced residential areas and among them are a few commercial plots in the CBD area, whose owners also appear reluctant or unable to develop. Residents who seem incapable of developing the plots have all gone beyond the stipulated deadline to develop the plots, which according to deed of sale documents is a period of two years. Some plots were allocated in 1998, and stood almost 16 years without any improvements being wrought on them by the owners. On the other hand, the Katima Mulilo Town Council is inundated with countless applications for plots with many residents on a lengthy waiting list and losing hope of ever owning a piece of land. This state of affairs was brought to light by a New Era correspondent who had an exclusive interview with the Chief Executive Officer of the Katima Mulilo Town Council, Charles Nawa last week. According to Nawa because of the current situation many residents are now unable to acquire residential plots. “Most of the plots are residential, but we also have a few commercial plots. We have almost 69 undeveloped plots in the CBD, Boma and Soweto areas. We have 23 plots in Coloured’s Camp and 80 plots in Greenwell Matongo and 120 plots in Cowboy.”
“All these plots are not developed, but are fully serviced. Remember that some of these plots were given in 1998, 1999 and 2000, yet up to now there’s no development”, Nawa said. According to him despite efforts by the town council to service the land in question, the owners of the plots failed dismally to put up structures and many a times avoid the payment of rates and taxes. “Council is putting up services in this land such as water, electricity and sewerage, but people still fail to develop their plots. They are even failing to pay for rates and taxes on their land and some of the bills are ballooning,” Nawa further said. He said the council will begin taking action by re-allocating the land to those who need it the most. He further said in terms of the existing by-laws plots should be developed within a period of two years of acquisition, failure of which would result in the repossession of such plots. “According to the deeds of sale that residents are signing now, you should be able to develop your plot within two years. This clause unfortunately was not there for those who acquired their plots under the old dispensation. What we want to do now in consultation with our lawyers is to repossess land that is not developed within the specified time and refund owners their money. For those who have not been paying their rates and taxes and their bill is equal to the value of the plot or more, we are going to attach their land in order to recoup our monies,” Nawa said. Plans are underway to reach the affected plot owners through a media ad campaign. “We are going to inform these residents by placing their erf numbers for them to come and see us here. If that should fail, we are going to place their erf numbers and their names and what they owe us. After that, we are going to be left with no choice but to attach their plots. That will be done in consultation with our lawyers,” said Nawa.
Although he could not provide the exact number of residents on the council’s waiting list for residential plots in the vicinity of Katima Mulilo, Nawa said the number was soaring to a point that applications are literally flooding in on a daily basis. “The demand for plots is very high. Every day we are receiving applications. We appeal to our people to fill up existing locations before we go to other extensions. When the land is exhausted that’s when we can ask for extension of town land. This cannot happen now because of people who don’t want to develop their land,” complained the CEO. Nawa ruled out arguments about an ostensible lack of financial resources as the main factor in failing to develop the plots, saying some of the culprits were high profile individuals but have held undeveloped land for over a decade without any improvements whatsoever. “They are not developing their land just out of ignorance and most of them have resources. They are well-known people in high positions. They are not taking council seriously,” said the CEO. Nawa further said council was discouraging land profiteering, the practice by some residents at the town who buy land cheaply from the town council only to resell it at inflated prices to foreigners at a huge profit. Nawa said even though Namibia has a free market system, the council has devised means of preventing such unreasonable practices by screening potential buyers. “In an open economy there’s nothing much we can do. It’s the reality we live in that some people have and will have multiple plots.
If they have money to do so, it’s their right. If they buy plots privately, there’s nothing council can do. However, council does screenings when we sell land. If you want to buy a plot while you have another undeveloped, we cannot approve that. We believe that everybody should have a share,” said Nawa. Amid the acute shortage of housing nationwide President Hifikepunye Pohamba launched the national mass housing development programme in November last year which will be run under the aegis of the National Housing Enterprise (NHE). Government intends to build 185 000 houses by the year 2030. However, contrary to the ideals of this ambitious project, people who fail to make improvements on their plots are likely to hamper its success in the long-run.
By George Sanzila