Illegal buildings endanger lives
A 34-year-old man motorist is fighting for his life after his vehicle left the road and crashed into a building built illegally within the road reserve at Omaalala village along the Ondangwa-Ongwediva main road.
The man is in critical condition in Ongwediva Medipark after he sustained serious head injuries.
According to the Oshana police, the accident happened on Tuesday evening at around 21:30, when the Toyota Corolla in which he was travelling alone towards Ongwediva, left the road and overturned before hitting a wall.
Structures erected within the road reserve are serious challenges in the north.
The situation is out of control and has sparked tensions between the communal land board, traditional authorities, landowners and service providers such as the Roads Authority (RA), Telecom Namibia, NamWater, NamPower and Nored.
The Roads Authority Act stipulates that no permanent or temporary structures are allowed within 100m of the main road and 30m from the gravel road.
Several meetings held since 2016 have had no impact, as old buildings remain, while new illegal ones continue to be constructed.
Authorities are accusing village headmen of illegal communal land sales and of allocating land without prior consultation with service providers.
New buildings are still being constructed within the road reserve, despite a November 2016 agreement signed at a meeting near Ongwediva. It was agreed that no new structures would be allowed within the road reserve, over water mains and under overhead power lines.
The meeting was attended by members of the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority, the police, communal landowners and parastatal service providers.
At the meeting, the senior headman for Onamutayi district, Amon Shipanga, said that communal landowners made it difficult for the traditional authority to control and maintain communal land. He said these landowners are selling land without prior consent and without consulting the authorities.
He added they are selling it at high prices and the traditional authority is powerless to stop them.
Most of the buildings in question are business structures and according to Oshana land board chairperson Reinhold Iita only they can approve business land allocations.
Iita said they only approved one business between Oshakati and Ondangwa, on communal land.
“Traditional authorities have the power to allocate land for houses only, while only the communal land board has the power to give land for businesses, and we have not done that in a very long time - especially between Ondangwa and Oshakati,” Iita said.
The man is in critical condition in Ongwediva Medipark after he sustained serious head injuries.
According to the Oshana police, the accident happened on Tuesday evening at around 21:30, when the Toyota Corolla in which he was travelling alone towards Ongwediva, left the road and overturned before hitting a wall.
Structures erected within the road reserve are serious challenges in the north.
The situation is out of control and has sparked tensions between the communal land board, traditional authorities, landowners and service providers such as the Roads Authority (RA), Telecom Namibia, NamWater, NamPower and Nored.
The Roads Authority Act stipulates that no permanent or temporary structures are allowed within 100m of the main road and 30m from the gravel road.
Several meetings held since 2016 have had no impact, as old buildings remain, while new illegal ones continue to be constructed.
Authorities are accusing village headmen of illegal communal land sales and of allocating land without prior consultation with service providers.
New buildings are still being constructed within the road reserve, despite a November 2016 agreement signed at a meeting near Ongwediva. It was agreed that no new structures would be allowed within the road reserve, over water mains and under overhead power lines.
The meeting was attended by members of the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority, the police, communal landowners and parastatal service providers.
At the meeting, the senior headman for Onamutayi district, Amon Shipanga, said that communal landowners made it difficult for the traditional authority to control and maintain communal land. He said these landowners are selling land without prior consent and without consulting the authorities.
He added they are selling it at high prices and the traditional authority is powerless to stop them.
Most of the buildings in question are business structures and according to Oshana land board chairperson Reinhold Iita only they can approve business land allocations.
Iita said they only approved one business between Oshakati and Ondangwa, on communal land.
“Traditional authorities have the power to allocate land for houses only, while only the communal land board has the power to give land for businesses, and we have not done that in a very long time - especially between Ondangwa and Oshakati,” Iita said.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article