Govt allegedly stalls Katjavivi's bid to buy state property

Government has reportedly stalled a request by former National Assembly Speaker Professor Peter Katjavivi to purchase a prime state-owned property in Swakopmund under the alienation scheme.

The alienation policy, administered by the works ministry, gives sitting tenants the first right to buy state properties at below market value.

The policy, however, stipulates that only occupied properties qualify, while a house allocated to an office or institution, such as the Speaker's official residence, falls outside the scope of the scheme.

Katjavivi told Namibian Sun this week that he applied for the property under the alienation scheme because it was heavily dilapidated and uninhabitable at the time.

"I have never received any property from the government under the alienation policy. Therefore, I was advised by relevant authorities to apply for this property," Katjavivi said.

Katjavivi, who retired as Speaker in March 2025 after a decade in the role, said the condition of the property motivated his interest.

"Windows and doors were broken, and grass had even overgrown inside the building. The sewerage system behind the house had also been compromised," he said.

Documents seen by Namibian Sun reveal that Katjavivi began lobbying for the property while he was still serving as Speaker and continued after he left office.

Katjavivi said he made his first application for the property to former works minister John Mutorwa on 18 March 2025, then followed up with a renewed application to the current minister, Veikko Nekundi, on 4 April 2025, before appealing to Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare on 7 April 2025.

He told Namibian Sun that he also informed former president Nangolo Mbumba.

Retirement abode

In a letter to Ngurare, Katjavivi said he was looking for a retirement home.

"Now that I have taken up my retirement, I do request that I be given this opportunity to own a retirement abode at the coast," he wrote.

Katjavivi told Namibian Sun this week that he expected the ministry to determine an appropriate price in line with the government valuation.

"I formally applied to the works ministry, requesting them to inform me on what price they would sell it to me. I never indicated the price because I was expecting the Ministry of Works and Transport to indicate the government price at which the property would be appropriately valued for sale to me," he told Namibian Sun.

Katjavivi said only Nekundi responded to his applications, indicating that the government's property alienation scheme is under review.

"The response from the ministry was that the alienation system was under review, so they were not able to act on my request at the time. They did not outright decline,” he explained.

‘Vague response’

Katjavivi suggested that the ministry's prolonged silence may not have been entirely procedural.

"All indications of the delayed response and a vague response clearly demonstrated that perhaps someone else wanted to take the property," he claimed.

He further claimed that several months after his application was handed in, he drove past the property and noticed it had been worked on.

"I passed by the area and saw that the property had been slightly renovated from what it had been at the time I requested it," he said.

The former Speaker said he has received no recent update from the ministry.

"I am still waiting for the outcome of their review on the alienation scheme as well as a formal response about the specific property, but to date, there has been no update," he said.

Questions that were sent to Nekundi on Wednesday went unanswered by the time of going to print, but Ngurare on Wednesday told Namibian Sun that Katjavivi’s request did not reach his office.

“I arrived back from Uganda today. I will follow up with the relevant departments and provide feedback," he replied.

"But based on the events you are describing, it sounds like the government house might be renovated for him. And if the former Speaker qualifies, he will be allowed to buy it,” Ngurare explained.

A familiar request

Katjavivi himself was previously drawn into an identical situation involving the same property, when, in 2015, his predecessor, the late Theo-Ben Gurirab, wrote to President Hage Geingob seeking personal intervention to acquire the property.

 Government turned him down at the time, with former presidential affairs minister Frans Kapofi saying the house was not available for alienation because it belonged to the state as an institution, not to any individual.

"The only houses that can be alienated are those that individuals occupy," Kapofi was quoted as saying at the time.

Katjavivi, then the newly installed Speaker, publicly backed that position without hesitation, saying: "The house belongs to the National Assembly."

Gurirab died in 2022.

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