Katima Mulilo
The Katima Mulilo Town Council has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with landless youth in which it undertook to give 1 000 plots of unserviced land to youths that last month resorted to grabbing land in Macaravan East.
The youth committee known as Lwa Yaha, loosely translated as ‘We build’, is also reported to have apologised to the Katima Mulilo Town Council chief executive officer, Charles Nawa, after stoning him in a violent protest over residential plots.
The violent confrontation resulted in a clash with the police forcing them to fire teargas to disperse the unruly crowd.
The agreement was brokered by youth activist and Bukalo village councillor Charles Siyauya last week who is said to have organised a meeting with the aggrieved youth in which he convinced them they acted outside the confines of the law and therefore needed to apologise to find an amicable solution.
During the signing of the agreement, Siyauya hastened to say he was not part of the Lwa Yaha committee but saw it fit to intervene as a concerned Namibian citizen.
In the MoU signed by Katima CEO Nawa and chairperson of the Lwa Yaha committee Leonard Saboi the town council undertakes to offer 1 000 unserviced plots to the youths. Municipal services are expected to follow later according to the agreement.
The Katima Town Council further requires the youth not to sell or exchange the plots with third parties and that structures built on such land should be in consultation with council in order to meet all its by-laws and standards.
Council could not specify where the plots would be allocated and only stated that it would be in different locations.
A High Court order that was instituted by the town council would not affect the youths should they comply with the terms stipulated in the MoU, according to the agreement.
The youths who were told to vacate land they grabbed at Macaravan East and were also told through the agreement that the allocation of plots would be done within three months from July 1 to September 30 2015.
Meanwhile youth and land activist Job Amupanda of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement issued a statement on social media hailing the agreement as a victory for the youth.
“This agreement represents the first sign of victory for the generation of land revolutionaries. The spirit of Thomas Sankara of the masses-driven politics has emerged victorious. This historic agreement represents truth that it can be done and must be done,” reads the statement issued by Amupanda.