Magistrate shoots down sky-high property values

JANA-MARI SMITH

Hundreds of Otavi residents were overjoyed yesterday when the local magistrate’s court declared a provisional valuation roll null and void and ordered the Otavi town council to start from scratch.

The valuation court was packed by concerned residents, who had taken the Otavi town council to task for a provisional valuation roll in which property and building valuations had shot up by as much as 1 400% and 350% respectively.

Low-income residents would also have been hit hard by the new valuation roll, with average monthly rates on properties increasing from N$20 to N$120 per month.

In January, another version of the provisional valuation roll was also declared null and void because it contained numerous errors.

Magistrate Joseph Shikongo yesterday scrapped the valuation roll based on the submissions of lawyer Maronel du Plessis, who argued on behalf of the residents that the valuation was deeply flawed.

Du Plessis also highlighted alleged intimidation tactics employed by members of the town council over the past few weeks, which the magistrate ruled was an infringement on the residents’ rights.

The magistrate also based his decision on more than 200 objections submitted by residents and instructed the town council to restart the valuations.

Shikongo instructed the council to do the next valuations strictly within the legal guidelines of the Local Authorities Act.

He advised the council to address procedural problems that had cropped up previously, where residents were under pressure to lodge objections.

The council was instructed to hold consultative meetings with residents.

Shikongo also acknowledged claims by Du Plessis and residents that the provisional valuation roll submitted to court was not the same as the one provided to residents for inspection earlier this week. It appeared that the contents of the roll had been tampered with.

Residents argued that if the valuation roll was approved, property prices at Otavi would be the highest in the country, in a town that residents say provides sub-standard municipal services, amenities and infrastructure.

The valuation roll has unleashed a host of allegations against council officials, including accusations of attempted intimidation, interference and other questionable actions, allegedly in an attempt to quell any protest.

The court heard that on Monday, residents queuing at the municipality to add their signatures to an objections register were allegedly interrupted by deputy mayor George Garab, who confiscated the objection registrar and only returned it after the deadline for objections had passed.

In other testimony in court, Garab was accused of trying to mislead residents by informing them that the valuation court date had been postponed and that they had more time to object later.

The provisional valuation roll allegedly contains numerous errors, such as incorrect owner names linked to properties, and property descriptions containing outdated or incorrect information.

According to the town council, the valuations were conducted by Benjamin Shigwedha, the director of Beniz Property Consulting.

Namibian Sun was informed that Shigwedha testified that some of the errors in the valuation roll were because “the Deeds Office register is not up to date”.

Numerous attempts to contact Shigwedha for comment yesterday failed, as he could not be reached at the telephone numbers listed for Beniz Property Consulting.