The many Okahandja residents, who occupied or will occupy unserviced municipal land, will have to fork out an extra N$50 to the council per household once the new 2022 proposed tariffs are implemented.
At the moment, Okahandja has over 2 000 residents, who allegedly occupied unserviced municipal land around Okahandja last year alone.
In an interview with New Era, Okahandja CEO Alphons Tjitombo said the council has proposed the permission to occupy (PTO) tariff in the informal settlement, where people reside without any title to the land.
A PTO can be defined as a user right of a personal nature, allowing use or occupation over rural, unsurveyed land.
PTOs are not registrable in the deeds office, and they do not transfer ownership of the land to the occupant.
Tjitombo said this tariff would serve as a lease or site rent to the residents.
“This [N$50] is a minimal amount that will enable the municipality to cover some costs that are normally associated with the provision of services to these settlements. It must also be emphasised that this will fall away when the land is eventually alienated from the residents of these settlements,” he explained.
Equally, he indicated rates and taxes will become applicable after alienation, which will further widen the council’s revenue base and provide the necessary financing to continue and improve service delivery in these settlements, which are soon to become fully proclaimed and surveyed townships.
A PTO provides confirmation, in writing, that the land being occupied in terms of the PTO was lawfully allocated to the occupant.
Although the PTO does not confer a real right on the holder, it has been generally accepted that the personal rights conferred are akin to a real right.
At the same time, the council this week also threatened scores of people who illegally occupied land at Okahandja that they are facing eviction after the local municipality applied for a court order to force settlers off the unserviced property.
Tjitombo confirmed the council’s decision has already been communicated to the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development.
He said the council is waiting for feedback from the attorney general’s office via the line ministry. Once the court eviction order has been obtained, the council will implement it with immediate effect.
This is the second time in the last two years that the local authority is seeking to evict land grabbers through a court order.
In August 2020, urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni also applied for an eviction order in the High Court to force about 2 000 illegal occupiers off the municipal land.
At the time, Uutoni and the Okahandja municipality had asked the court to authorise the eviction of residents who occupied some parts of the town’s unserviced land illegally.
However, before the eviction order was to be carried out the next month, Uutoni felt the demands from the community members who grabbed land were genuine, and ordered that everyone be registered to be allocated land.
Nonetheless, land grabbing continued unabated around Okahandja, especially on the outskirts of the town, a situation that prompted the council to apply for another eviction order.