Ondangwa council in rematch with 'Hitman'

ILENI NANDJATO

ONDANGWA



The dust is refusing to settle in the land conflict between the Ondangwa town council and former World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight world champion Paulus 'The Hitman' Moses. After years of tit-for-tat scuffles, the council last week tore down his fence and confiscated the poles.





The council has accused Moses of constructing his house near the Ondangwa airport illegally, while he claims the council is trying to take away land he rightfully obtained from the traditional authority.

According to Moses, he acquired the land in 2000 when his grandmother died. He said the land was transferred to his name before he started building his house in 2005.

“I have the land ownership documents from the Ondonga Traditional Authority and the customary land right from the lands ministry. Before that piece of land was proclaimed as townland, I was already there,” he said.



Fence reawakens feud

“In 2005, I applied for water connection from the town council, which was approved and connected; then I started building my house.”

Moses said he only heard from the town council in 2015, when his house was nearing completion.

He added they resolved the matter, but last week the council stopped him from erecting a fence on his land.

“They stopped my people who were erecting the fence and they demolished my fence and confiscated the poles. I am not against town development, but the town council must respect me as the customary landowner,” he added.



Within townland

“The town council officials are telling me that the land is within the townland and any development I am putting up, I have to first consult them,” Moses said.

He added that he was only putting up the fence to protect his house from cattle that roam the area.

The council made him sign a letter that if the area is developed in future, he will not be compensated for the fence, he said.



Failed to consult

Ondangwa town council CEO Ismael Namgongo confirmed the conflict with Moses, but refused to shed more light on the issue.

However, Namgongo said they removed the fence because Moses failed to consult the council before erecting it.



“Anything happening within the townland, whether the place is serviced or not, has to pass through the town council office. For any structure, we need to have a development plan. This is done to prevent town council development colliding with residents' plans,” Namgongo said.



“All he has to do is to come to the office and talk to us, we can help him.”