Katima Mulilo
The Deputy Minister of Finance Natangue Ithete has vehemently condemned land grabbing and urged his staff to abstain from such practices.
Ithete expressed his disapproval of illegal land occupation yesterday when on a familiarisation visit of Zambezi Region, where he was also expected to visit border posts.
His condemnation follows incidents of land grabbing in Windhoek and Tsumeb on Sunday, when throngs of landless people tried to grab land in the full presence of law enforcement agents, who however prevented them from doing so.
The Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement of youth activist Job Amupanda, Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and George Kambala has threatened to spearhead mass occupation of land countrywide on July 31, if their demands for land are not met.
Ithete, a graduate of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL), noted that grabbing land is unlawful and that people should exercise restraint as government is working towards resolving the emotive issue.
“Young people are saying we must ‘park’ the law but this is not the proper way to go,” he said.
“Let’s not support this. Yes we have laws that are not addressing our challenges but these laws can be amended. I urge all finance staff to refrain from these activities,” cautioned Ithete
A crowd of nearly 1 000 people descended on Goreangab settlement on Sunday to clear land for illegal occupation. A similar-sized crowd tried the same in Tsumeb, a New Era correspondent said.
In May over 1 000 youths allocated themselves plots at Katima Mulilo’s Macaravan East area.
Furthermore, Ithete denied claims that the recent visit by an International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation was prompted by the housing crisis currently crippling the country.
“We were recently visited by the IMF. They come here annually. Reports in the media were that our country is faced with a housing crisis that’s why they visited. That is not true. IMF has an obligation to visit the country every year whether we are economically doing good or bad,” said Ithete.
He noted that the government through the finance ministry has already devised plans to offset the housing backlog.
“The finance ministry has never stopped allocating funds for development. We have made money available for housing. Mass housing has just been put on hold and will be corrected and resume in the near future. As patriotic Namibians, it is wrong to say government is not addressing the issue of housing.”
Ithete’s visit ends on Saturday.