Windhoek
Walvis Bay Municipality says it was unaware of the land deal through which Swapo Party Youth League leader Neville Andre allegedly made N$2.6 million profit in one day by selling an erf on the same day he bought it from Council.
Municipal CEO Muronga Haingura told New Era that Andre’s proposal regarding the type of investment he wanted to make was one of the reasons Council approved his application. Council sold the plot to him for N$1.5 million on June 26 this year, but on the very same day Itope sold the 1784 square metre plot to Harpie Investment CC for N$4.1 million.
“If we knew about it, the deal would not have gone through. He told us about the type of investment he wanted to make, and based on that, we approved the application because we need such developments in the town,” Haingura said.
Andre, who serves as SPYL’s spokesman, told New Era last week that he initially wanted to build an office complex on the plot, but the conditions of sale caused him to change his mind.
In another version, he said he sold the land because his business partners in the proposed venture withdrew, prompting him to sell because he was in no position to finance the development of the property.
He also disputed assertions that his mother, late Kaino Andre, who was a municipal councillor at Walvis Bay, might have influenced the sale of land to her son. Itope said, although he had informed his mother about his plan to acquire land in Walvis Bay, she did not play any part in him getting the land.
“When I applied for the plot my mother was already in hospital and she did not have any influence on this process,” he said last week.
Local authorities have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years through questionable transactions, whereby middlemen acquire land only to sell it at inflated prices.