2018-08-02Staff Report 2 John Muyamba RUNDU - A mob of people referring to themselves as the ‘landless residents’ has illegally demarcated plots for themselves in Rundu, a week after they were stoped from occupying the land illegally. They insist that they have waited for too long for the council to allocate them land. The group has been camping on site since July 21, and claim to have over 2000 members on their list who need land. They are currently demarcating a virgin piece of land to cater to that number. When the group was stopped by police on Saturday July 21, they gave council an ultimatum to get back to them with positive feedback within a week. When the town council arranged a meeting with the group on July 25, at the Kavango Community Convention Centre, the group refused to attend the meeting at that venue. They demanded that the meeting take place at the area where they wish to settle. “Council will not hold a meeting at the land where they are now, the council chose a venue which is suitable for a meeting, they could have agreed if they were willing to discuss with council, yet they refused,” said the Public Relations Officer for Rundu, Benjamin Makayi. Makayi cautioned that people should not take matters into their own hands but follow procedures. “Everything have rules and regulations and they have to be followed. We know that some of this people have got plots already, some have sold their plots and are now in that group, why they are there is for them to get plots and resell them, and that is not what we want for our town,” Makayi continued. However, the group maintains that they do not have plots and they live with their parents, rent, and relatives. “We are demarcating our streets and plots with equal sizes as you can see, and we are also verifying that no one should get more than one plot. We won’t erect permanent structures for now just shacks,” said group committee member Alex Muyambango. In October last year, the group attempted to grab land at the area known as the golf course and the police were called in to halt them with threats of arrest. That was followed by meetings with the council where the group claims it was given the hope of getting land, only to later be told that the plans would no longer materialise. They said this was the reason they planned to grab land. 2018-08-02Staff Report 2
