Nekundi rejects Katjavivi's bid to buy state house

Works and Transport Minister Veikko Nekundi has rejected former National Assembly Speaker Professor Peter Katjavivi's application to purchase a government-owned house in Swakopmund, ruling that he does not qualify under the state's property alienation policy.

Nekundi confirmed the decision to Namibian Sun on Thursday, saying the ministry had declined Katjavivi's request.

"I have seen your questions and I have forwarded them to the property department to help facilitate a response for you, but the decision is that we have declined the application," Nekundi said.

Documents seen by Namibian Sun show that Nekundi formally communicated the decision to Katjavivi on 16 July, after Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare referred the matter to the ministry for consideration.

In his response, Nekundi said government houses may only be sold to sitting tenants where the properties form part of the government's designated pool housing scheme.

"Our records indicate that the house in question is not a pool house. Furthermore, this ministry has no record indicating Prof. Katjavivi being a sitting tenant of the property.

"Therefore, the property does not meet the requirements for alienation under the government's housing policy and the government's alienation scheme," Nekundi wrote.

Katjavivi cries foul

Katjavivi has challenged the decision, questioning how a house he says was abandoned and earmarked for sale to him was renovated and apparently allocated to someone else while his application remained pending.

In a letter dated 17 July - a day after receiving Nekundi's rejection - Katjavivi said officials from the Erongo regional governor's office, the Swakopmund municipality and the works ministry had jointly identified the property and accompanied him on an inspection.

According to him, the house was in a state of severe disrepair, with a blocked sewer line, broken doors and windows, shattered glass panes, overgrown grass and a dilapidated garage.

Katjavivi said the property had been selected from a list of available government houses in Swakopmund and that officials advised him to apply for it so he could renovate it at his own expense as his retirement home.

After submitting his application, however, he said repeated follow-ups were met with prolonged silence before he was informed that the government's alienation policy was under review.

"Then strangely, I later passed by the property and observed that it was undergoing renovation," he wrote.

"It thus appears that the prolonged delay of response was used to renovate the property and perhaps get it to somebody else so that that person could then qualify as having been a sitting tenant, so as to align with the clause in the alienation policy about a sitting tenant in the property.

"Overall, I find this treatment unbecoming."

Katjavivi has asked government to instead make another available state-owned house in Swakopmund available to him for the same purpose.

PM intervention

The correspondence shows that Ngurare intervened after Katjavivi sought his assistance earlier this year.

In a letter dated 1 June, Ngurare referred the request to Nekundi, saying the matter fell within the ministry's mandate.

"Given your ministry's mandate and responsibilities in this regard, it is deemed appropriate that this matter be referred to your office for your attention, consideration and appropriate action.

In May, Katjavivi told Namibian Sun he had not proposed a purchase price, but expected the ministry to determine the property's value through a 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. Then I can determine whether I can afford it or not," he said.

The property on Erf 525, Tobias Hainyeko Street, near the Swakopmund Lighthouse, is one of the older government-owned houses in the coastal town.

Katjavivi, 85, served as Speaker of the National Assembly from 2015 until his retirement in March 2025. Before that, he held several senior public positions, including director general of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Namibia's ambassador to Belgium and the European Union, ambassador to Germany, and founding vice-chancellor of the University of Namibia.