Land battle rages onThe headmen of three villages are delaying township development by refusing to vacate town land at Ongwediva. Council wants Shaningwa’s intervention at Omatando The Ongwediva town council is hopeful that urban and rural development minister Sophia Shaningwa will intervene in its land dispute with residents of Omatando that has been delaying development for more than a decade. The town council says residents of Omatando No. 1, 2 and 3 villages are holding back township development in their areas. They are questioning how their villages became part of Ongwediva townlands in 2003 without their consent.
Mayor Angelina Angula confirmed to Namibian Sun that during the Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair she took Shaningwa to the three Omatando villages to familiarise herself with the situation. She said she hopes the minister will intervene to resolve a dispute that is getting worse.
According to Angula the town council acquired the land of the three villages in 2003. She said the council paid back to the three headmen everything they had paid to the Onamutayi District senior headman when they acquired their villages.
She said this was done to prevent headmen from allocating land to those who want to settle near the town, but it could not work as land owners started selling plots while headmen continued issuing title deeds.
“In 2003 we started compensating village headmen for the three Omatando villages and got the land deed. After acquiring the deed, land owners started selling plots and allocating land in their mahangu fields while the land already belonged to the town council. They were informed to stop, but until now they are allocating land,” Angula said.
She said those who have already settled at Omatando will not get the land for free.
“We are only going to compensate those who were there before the land was surveyed. Those who came after, we are going to negotiate with them. If they can afford the land then they can buy it and stay, but those who are going to be affected by streets, sewer and water lines, we are only going to negotiate with them to vacate the land freely.”
The chairperson of the Omatando community dispute committee, Linekela Shipindo, told Namibian Sun that they did not buy plots, but their parents and relatives gave them land in their mahangu fields where they could build their houses.
“Our relatives were not informed that they had become part of the town land until 2012 when the town council wanted to demolish their buildings, saying they were built illegally. We need fair and equal treatment because most of the affected people have been in Omatando since before the township land extension was gazetted. We built our houses more than 10 years ago, we are not here illegally as they are saying and we deserve fair treatment,” Shipindo said.
According to documents, the townland extension was gazetted in 2012.
Shipindo said they are not against the town’s expansion, but they want the council to register their properties and compensate those who are going to be affected.
The senior headman for Onamutayi District, Amon Shipanga, confirmed that the three headmen were fairly compensated, but he blamed the town council for failing to inform residents in time.
“I tried to resolve that dispute long time but I failed because it is the town council that failed to inform the people. For now the matter is with my seniors at Ohangwena,” Shipanga said.
ILENI NANDJATO