Bid to evict land-grabbers fails

On Sunday, High Court Judge Marlene Tommasi struck an urgent application by the Gobabis municipality to interdict a group of land-grabbers from the roll due to lack of urgency.The municipality brought the matter against Peter Kazapua, Sara Pietersen, Wallace Finnies, Moses Mberira, Matheus Brandt, Cynthia Araes, Roger Mberira, Peter Goagoseb, Robiath Kazenkondjo, Kuvee Kangueehi, Uaonga Kaapona, Chris Nguapia and Veronia Kuzeeko. The last three respondents were listed as the Gobabis deputy sheriff, the regional police commander for Omaheke and the inspector-general of the Namibian police. In his founding affidavit, the CEO of Gobabis municipality Ignatius Thudinyane told the court that the first to 13th respondents “are some of the people who are occupying the land” at six sites at the town, including the “open space next to Nossobville Primary School”.All the areas, Thudinyane said, are under the control of the municipal council of Gobabis, save for three sections still held by government grant.He asked the court to evict the first to 13th respondents from the land within five days, and moreover, asked for an order to prevent them from occupying the land again. Those who do not move, he asked, should be removed by the Omaheke police.According to Thudinyane, he returned from Windhoek on 3 June and the next day learned “that a number of persons have occupied the aforesaid land and have started allocating and demarcating land for their own use without the consent” of the municipality. The police, he said, had attended to the scene on 3 June but their instructions to vacate the land were ignored.By the Wednesday, 10 shacks had been erected and roughly “100 people were busy demarcating and clearing land for themselves”.An emergency meeting was held that day, attended by roughly 20 people led by Peter Kazapua and Matheus Brandt. They told the council that “they have occupied some municipal property in Nossobville due to their frustration with the pace of delivery of land”. They were instructed to remove their structures but Thudinyane told the court they “vowed not to remove their structures and left the meeting”.The structures, he told the court, have since increased in number.Thudinyane went to great lengths to explain to the court the danger of these illegal, haphazard settlements, saying the structures were not necessarily safe, and moreover, illegal electricity connections and the lack of sanitation are both dangerous to human lives. “When a fire starts it is not easy to contain and by the time it is put out, the damage to property and human life is terrible”.The respondents, represented by Sarel Maritz, all filed a notice of intention to defend. Ileni Gebhardt appeared for the Gobabis municipal council.Judge Tommasi struck the matter off the roll due to a lack of urgency and ordered the municipality to pay the costs of the respondents, including one instructed and one instructing counsel.YANNA SMITH

Bid to evict land-grabbers fails

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-07

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Bid to evict land-grabbers fails

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-07

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