Residents in Namibia’s capital Windhoek are tapping into new techniques to grow food, overcoming food insecurity amid the biting COVID-19 pandemic.
In the heart of the bustling informal settlement of Goreangab, 42 -year-old Lucky Matunge is breaking new ground and growing vegetables in sacks that are filled with manure, sand and stones right at the back of her rental apartment.
The Otavi Town Council has vowed to fast track the allocation of plots after a number of residents complained they are yet to be presented with proof of ownership despite paying for the land almost a year ago.
Mayor George Garab said the local authority will act with urgency to resolve the issue to allow residents to construct their homes.
Garab attributed the delay to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resignation of former council CEO Moses Matyayi.
A RESIDENT of Okahandja submitted a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Commission today calling for an investigation into alleged corrupt land deals implicating councillors and officials at the town.
Johannes Gaseb says he filed his complaint as an individual concerned about alleged corruption with regards to land sales and allocation at the town.
He wants the ACC to investigate land deals that took place between 2014 and 2020.
The Swakopmund Municipality is targeting to accommodate 17 000 people under the various erven and housing provision projects.
There is an estimated 25 000 to 30 000 people living in the Democratic Resettlement Community (DRC), an informal settlement of Swakopmund.
Nearly 30 years after starting land reform, Namibia’s distribution of land ownership is still skewed. This is a colonial legacy. It is high time to return land to dispossessed communities. As a former colonial power guilty of terrible bloodshed, Germany should contribute to making that happen.
We should recognise that people in informal settlements have the same right to share the city with the same dignity and equality as other residents. Without the active participation of informal settlement residents in upgrading projects, any upgrading plans proposed are destined to flop. Post the pandemic, we (Namibian planning practitioners, donors and private sector) should look towards the inclusion of people in informal settlements communities in planning and upgrading of the informal settlements.
RESIDENTS of Okahandja will get land relief after the town council yesterday announced they would be rolling out a land-delivery programme.
Some residents this month resorted to cleaning up earmarked erven as they are tired of renting and want their own property.
Lukas Alfons, a resident of Okahandja for the past 32 years, says rich people are buying land at the town, while they do not own anything.
THE Municipality of Otjiwarongo has started profiling its informal settlements to better plan and upgrade the areas for their residents.
According to Adelheid Shilongo, the Otjiwarongo local authority's public relations officer, the profiling is important because it will provide the municipality with crucial and accurate data on the informal settlements' demographics, which in turn would enable better planning and the upgrading of the areas.
Land reform minister Calle Schlettwein has urged regional governors to use land as a form of correcting past injustices while creating economic opportunities for disadvantaged Namibians to address inequality.
Minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa says there is a need to clean up the ministry and dismantle corruption syndicates involved in dubious sale of land.
Msukwa said this during a meeting with Vice President Saulos Chilima on the required reforms in the Ministry.
According to Chilima, Msukwa admitted that there are ministry officials who are involved in illegal sale of land.