Squabbles leave family homeless ADOLF KAUREUIS
Uis resident Cherly Gaoses (39) was recently kicked out of a house she thought belonged to her mother, Charlothe Areses-Hoebes (57), after her mother’s uncle’s wife, Louise Areses, removed her belongings while she was at work.
Recently separated from her husband, Gaoses has been left with six children to raise on her own.
She said Areses moved to Swakopmund in 2002 and asked her mother to move into the house, even though she had her own.
According to her, the then administrative officer of the Uis village council, Alex Gurirab, allegedly changed the ownership of the house from Areses to Areses-Hoebes on 1 November 2003.
“After that, my mother moved into the house, which happens to be a government house,” Gaoses said.
17 years later
She claimed the administrative officer, who has since retired, then gave the house to Robert Gurirab.
“She was given a letter by the secretary of the [then] village council, but they did not explain what she was signing for,” she said.
According to her, 17 years later, Areses came back to Uis and said she merely told her mother to take care of the house, not to change the ownership.
“She removed our things while I was at work and placed them outside in the yard. I slept in the yard in a tent with my children and belongings.”
Gaoses’s mother currently lives on a farm near Uis.
Appeal
Gaoses further said they handed in an appeal letter on 10 July.
“They still haven’t replied to that letter. Before we handed in this letter, my mother wrote two other appeal letters which have also not been replied to,” she said.
Goases, her children and mother have been told to move out of the yard.
“She said that we need to get out from her yard and take our belongings with us because she does not want to answer to anyone if our belongings go missing,” she said.
No comment
Last Wednesday morning, the family moved to an incomplete house at Uis’s Tata Mutsi informal settlement.
The chief control administrative officer of the Uis settlement office, Gerrard Abigo Honeb, was reluctant to comment when contacted about the matter.
Areses-Hoebes also works at the Uis Settlement Office.
adolf@erongo.com.na