By Eveline de Klerk
SWAKOPMUND – The scene seemed set yesterday for a major confrontation between a group of landless Swakopmund residents that have moved onto municipal land and the Swakopmund Municipality.
In December last year approximately 600 residents moved onto municipal land and began marking plots for themselves, alleging that the municipality was not dealing with their applications for land with urgency. The land is located between Hanganeni Primary School and the Democratic Resettlement Community (DRC) informal settlement in Swakopmund.
Things appeared headed for a boil yesterday with Gothard Kandume, community activist and self-appointed leader of the land-grabbing Swakopmund residents, saying his followers would start building houses on the disputed land starting today.
He alleged that the municipality had not met the Swakopmund residents’ demands, prompting them to occupy the land. Kandume cited the lengthy process of land allocation as one of the burning issues.
“Some of us have been applying for land since 2002 and nothing has been done by council or the municipality. We are fed up as only the rich and families and friends of councillors benefit when it comes to land. We stood in long queues to vote them into power but once they made it to the top they forgot about us, the ordinary citizens,” Kandume fumed.
He said even if council were to condone the land occupation, the people would not pay for the land but would be willing to pay for services only.
“Why should we pay for land our own fathers fought for? From which God did council buy the land that they want us to buy? This country belongs to all of us and not only to a certain section of people,” he said.
However , the Mayor of Swakopmund, Juuso Kambueshe yesterday told New Era that the municipality or council would not stand idly by while people erect any structures on the contested land. He did not elaborate.
The land-hungry Swakopmund residents have won the sympathy of youthful land activist, Job Amupanda, who yesterday said had no objection to what they were doing in Swakopmund.
According to Amupanda landless Namibians have waited too long for the land situation to change and this has prompted them to take matters in their own hands.
In November last year, ,Amupanda hogged the media limelight following his ‘Affirmative Repositioning’ initiative, during which he and two other youths marked municipal land in Windhoek’s elite Kleine Kuppe suburb.
Amupanda also led a demonstration in which thousands of youths and the landless marched to the Windhoek Municipality to hand in applications for land. So far, 14 059 of those demonstrators have received letters of acknowledgement from the City of Windhoek.
Amupanda insisted that landless Namibians must get land irrespective of whether they follow legal routes or not.
“If illegal repositioning is the way, we must push forward as the process of land allocation will remain the same unless our voices are collectively heard,” Amupanda said.
He alleged that the country’s decision-makers did not want to compromise their positions by listening to the pleas of the Namibian people.
“They have the elites in their pockets and don’t want to compomise their financial gain,” he charged.
“Look at our people, while the rich are walking their dogs carefree on our vast beaches, owning beachfront property and houses, some even obtained dubiously, our people are fighting to get a piece of land for decent houses that take years to get.”
He added: “Some even died while waiting for land. Let’s face it, it’s very rare to find an ordinary Namibian residing in an exclusive neighbourhood,” Amupanda said.
When New Era visited the occupied Swakopmund land yesterday morning, none of the occupiers were on site and Kandume was in Walvis Bay when contacted.
No structure had been erected at the empty piece of land yet.