Land is coming, Job assures
City mayor Job Amupanda, who has historically stood shoulder to shoulder with land grabbers, says there’s no reason to continue this habit because the City now has a plan for the landless.
OGONE TLHAGE
WINDHOEK
Windhoek mayor Job Amupanda says people should not grab land in and around Windhoek as there is a plan to provide it.
As an activist of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, Amupanda has previously advocated for land grabs, but yesterday said this was necessary at that time as Windhoek had no plan in place to rectify the situation.
In December 2014, while on suspension from the Swapo Party Youth League over the symbolic demarcation of land a month earlier in Windhoek, Amupanda was quoted as saying more than 50 000 landless youth in Namibia were ready to grab land if it was not provided to them by the end of July 2015.
“Presently, there are more than 50 000 landless youth activists prepared to take the land. If the leaders do not solve the land issue by 31 July 2015, I will tell our people all over the country to grab land and set up their houses,” Amupanda told Nampa at the time.
Yesterday, though, he said grabbing land was no longer necessary.
He made the comments when asked to clarify what the City’s no-tolerance stance to land grabbing entailed during a press briefing. The briefing was held to report back on the outcomes of a workshop to discuss the City’s housing crisis.
It follows recent attempts by landless residents to grab land in the Agste Laan and Okahandja Park informal settlements a month ago.
“We now have a plan, we have a strategy, we have a framework, why occupy land?” Amupanda said.
New system
“People are occupying land saying they are tired. Of course, there is a new phenomenon of people saying ‘I am going to occupy land because I am retrenched’.
“If you are tired, if you don’t trust the municipal system, the municipality did not have a system, we are trying to engage with reason,” he said.
The new system will lend credibility towards resolving the land issue, Amupanda added.
“Now you are number 120 on the list. Why should number 120 go and occupy land?” he asked.
Illegal land occupation would not be tolerated, the mayor added.
“We are not going to tolerate land occupation because we have a plan,” he said, adding that council will not be brutal in its no-tolerance approach.
“It is not our approach to be brutal, and that’s not what this council is saying. We have a plan, allow us to implement our plan,” Amupanda said.
Bear with us
“We call on all residents and stakeholders to remain calm, patient and assured that council is fully committed to address the pressing needs for land and housing in a systematic, financially viable, and sustainable manner,” he said.
According to Amupanda, N$22 million had been set aside to help the City deliver land and housing for its residents. It entailed availing land in Goreangab Extension 4 as well as Cimbebasia where 24 hectares of land would be availed.
The council-funded affordable housing project will showcase “the type of Windhoek we want, the new Windhoek with more dignified living space”, he said. “The project will start this year in Goreangab Extension 4 on a small scale. The full rollout of the project will be at a piece of land measuring 24 hectares in Cimbebasia.”
WINDHOEK
Windhoek mayor Job Amupanda says people should not grab land in and around Windhoek as there is a plan to provide it.
As an activist of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, Amupanda has previously advocated for land grabs, but yesterday said this was necessary at that time as Windhoek had no plan in place to rectify the situation.
In December 2014, while on suspension from the Swapo Party Youth League over the symbolic demarcation of land a month earlier in Windhoek, Amupanda was quoted as saying more than 50 000 landless youth in Namibia were ready to grab land if it was not provided to them by the end of July 2015.
“Presently, there are more than 50 000 landless youth activists prepared to take the land. If the leaders do not solve the land issue by 31 July 2015, I will tell our people all over the country to grab land and set up their houses,” Amupanda told Nampa at the time.
Yesterday, though, he said grabbing land was no longer necessary.
He made the comments when asked to clarify what the City’s no-tolerance stance to land grabbing entailed during a press briefing. The briefing was held to report back on the outcomes of a workshop to discuss the City’s housing crisis.
It follows recent attempts by landless residents to grab land in the Agste Laan and Okahandja Park informal settlements a month ago.
“We now have a plan, we have a strategy, we have a framework, why occupy land?” Amupanda said.
New system
“People are occupying land saying they are tired. Of course, there is a new phenomenon of people saying ‘I am going to occupy land because I am retrenched’.
“If you are tired, if you don’t trust the municipal system, the municipality did not have a system, we are trying to engage with reason,” he said.
The new system will lend credibility towards resolving the land issue, Amupanda added.
“Now you are number 120 on the list. Why should number 120 go and occupy land?” he asked.
Illegal land occupation would not be tolerated, the mayor added.
“We are not going to tolerate land occupation because we have a plan,” he said, adding that council will not be brutal in its no-tolerance approach.
“It is not our approach to be brutal, and that’s not what this council is saying. We have a plan, allow us to implement our plan,” Amupanda said.
Bear with us
“We call on all residents and stakeholders to remain calm, patient and assured that council is fully committed to address the pressing needs for land and housing in a systematic, financially viable, and sustainable manner,” he said.
According to Amupanda, N$22 million had been set aside to help the City deliver land and housing for its residents. It entailed availing land in Goreangab Extension 4 as well as Cimbebasia where 24 hectares of land would be availed.
The council-funded affordable housing project will showcase “the type of Windhoek we want, the new Windhoek with more dignified living space”, he said. “The project will start this year in Goreangab Extension 4 on a small scale. The full rollout of the project will be at a piece of land measuring 24 hectares in Cimbebasia.”
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