TSUMEB – Tsumeb Municipality is grossly embarassed after it sold a 1 014-square-metre residential plot to two different people with the initial owner having bought the land in 1989.
The land in dispute, Erf 1038 in Nomtsoub area, initially belonged to Betty Kaula after she bought it for about N$5 900 in 1989 from the Tsumeb Municipality.
New Era is in possession of the document indicating she bought the plot and all documents indicate she has constantly paid for all her rates and taxes since 1989 and has not missed a payment.
Last week on Thursday, Kaula visited the Tsumeb Municiplaity to enquire about a plot that she allegedly bought from the municipality on April 1, 1989, since it has not been serviced while she has been paying for the obligatory rates and taxes on it. To her horror, she was informed the plot in question was sold to another person.
Gerson Kautondokwa, a property officer at the town council, said her plot was sold to David Amathila, a property developer in the town, together with 10 other plots in the same vicinity.
“He opened the book in which all the erven are written and I saw Erf 1083 was removed and municipality erf was written on it,” she said.
Documents from the Deeds Office show the erf does not belong to Kaula but to the municipality.
“I told him that I am having documentation that dates back to 1 April 1989 and that I have all my receipts that will show that I don’t owe anything to the municipality and he just insisted on some type of contract,” she said.
The following day, Kaula went back to the municipality with Rosa Eises, the Deputy Chairperson of the Management Committee of the Tsumeb Town Council, as a witness.
Kautondokwa was initially very reluctant to speak to her but only after instructions from the councillor did he agree to hear her side of the story, Kaula alleges.
“I then showed him my documentation and receipts of the payment I had done and how I bought the erf. Councillor Eises then requested to see the book in which all the erven are recorded, and once again the same erf was removed with liquid pen remover and this time it was written ‘Mr Khunugab’, she said.
Kautondokwa insisted the erf belongs to Amathila until such a time Kaula produces a “contract”.
Kaula said later that same day she received a call from Eises telling her to go back the coming Monday with N$3 000 and that a formal contract would be given to her.
“What if I didn’t keep all my documentation from all the years? What about people who cannot read and write and are losing land the same way?” asked a visibly upset Kaula.
Impeccable sources revealed Amathila owns large pieces of land in the town while he has already developed most into residential flats.
Sources also revealed Kautondokwa and Amathila are involved in property development with the businessman bankrolling the ventures and the municipal official availing the land.
When contacted for comment, Mayor of Tsumeb, Ndangi Sheetekela, said he heard about the incident and blamed the situation on the filing system of the municipality.
“I heard about it in the corridors. We haven’t really spoken about it at council level but we have to dig deeper to see who is at fault,” he said.
Asked how he justifies two or more people paying rates and taxes for a plot that only belongs to one, the mayor said the CEO would investigate but failed to answer how such “mistakes” are made.
When New Era tried to get comment from Kautondokwa, Stella Imalwa – the spokesperson of the Tsumeb Municipality – said he was not allowed to speak to the media and instead referred this newspaper to Karoline Damases, who is the manager to whom Kautondokwa reports.
Damases, who also serves as the acting CEO of the Tsumeb Municipality, was tightlipped only saying, “the problem has been solved,” and she refused to entertain further enquiries from New Era.
Yesterday the municpality offered Kaula a contract stating she was buying the land from Amathila.
It is not clear why the municipality was giving a contract stating that Amathila was the owner of the land, while the Deeds Office in Windhoek upon enquiry from New Era said the erf was still registered in the name of the Tsumeb Municipality and not under the name of Amathila.