In a landmark settlement last week, the Windhoek High Court ordered the removal of eight warehouses at the Ramatex industrial complex in Otjomuise.

It was further ordered that the land on which the buildings are located be rehabilitated and handed over to the City of Windhoek.

The City now wants to use disputed land for industrial purposes.

“We are relieved to have access to this public land after 13 years… [The] industrial areas potential can now be unlocked. It’s earmarked for industrial – not low-cost housing,” City spokesperson Harold Akwenye stated briefly.

Of the warehouses, six are owned by Ramatex, while the remaining two are owned by Tai-Wah.

More than a decade since the closure of the Ramatex Textile Namibia factory by the Malaysian Textile and Garment company, the property has been the subject of a legal brawl between the City and liquidators.

The liquidators of Ramatex Textile Namibia and the City have been involved in litigation since 2010 after the company was placed under provisional liquidation on 8 May 2008.

At the time, the liquidators informed the City they elected to continue with the lease, although there was no longer a valid lease in place.

The liquidators are Ian McLaren, David Bruni and Simon Steyn.

Last Wednesday, this legal tussle came to an end, with the City appearing to be the winner.

The liquidators were ordered to remove the warehouses and bear that cost.

“The Ramatex warehouses will be removed or caused to be removed by the liquidators through the purchasers of such warehouses for a price to be determined by the liquidators. The Tai-Wah warehouses will be removed and the land underneath those warehouses shall be rehabilitated by the liquidators, whose removal and rehabilitation process must be completed within a period of three years from the date on which this settlement is made an order of court,” reads part of the high court settlement.

Failure to rehabilitate the land underneath the warehouses within the next three years, the municipality shall be entitled to appoint an independent contractor to do the rehabilitation at a reasonable cost at the account of the liquidators, the court ordered.

The liquidators will continue to maintain the security currently in place.

“The same arrangement, as set above in respect of the Ramatex warehouses, shall be applicable to two warehouses, referred to and identified as the ‘Tai-Wah warehouses’, subject thereto that the liquidators shall pay 30% of the net income received for the Tai-Wah warehouse to the municipality, which amount shall be made provision for in the final liquidation and distribution account,” it was further ordered.

It is estimated that each warehouse will generate around N$8 million. This means the City is expected to receive around N$2.4 million from the proceeds generated from each warehouse.

“Each party shall pay its/their own costs – and subject to what is stated herein, the parties shall have no claims against each other.”

Back in 2010, the liquidators approached the courts, demanding that the city pay them N$317.9 million for the warehouses.

The liquidators wanted that court to declare that: “The plaintiffs [liquidators] are entitled to remove all improvements erected by the fourth plaintiff on the erven (which forms the subject matter of the agreements [“the leased area”], excluding those buildings that were erected on the land as indicated in the lease agreement, which was entered between the defendant [City] and Rhino Garments”.

The City, however, refused to buy the buildings. According to insiders, this was due to the fact that approved building plans for the warehouses were non-existent.

“The warehouses have no structural integrity,” a person familiar with the matter said.

In 2013, the municipality was back in court, this time wanting to kick the liquidators out of Ramatex on the basis that the City was losing around N$22 million annually in rental fees that it could have otherwise generated from Ramatex.

The City is expected to take over the disputed land as soon as the removal of the warehouses and subsequent rehabilitation of the land underneath is complete.

-  emumbuu@nepc.com