The City of Windhoek has withdrawn all land applications from its agenda following opposition over president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s private land purchase request.
The application involved buying municipal land at Auasblick in Windhoek, following a standoff from opposition councillors.
The councillors have questioned why the president’s application was being treated differently from other private land applications, including Cricket Namibia’s stadium land request, which was listed for public discussion.
Affirmative Repositioning councillor Maitjituavi Kavetu challenged last Thursday’s ordinary council meeting agenda, which initially excluded the president’s land application from the items for public consideration.
The disputed application involves six erven covering about 1.8 hectares at Auasblick.
According to leaked council documents, Nandi-Ndaitwah applied to buy the land in her private capacity on 21 May, about three weeks after an intruder was discovered inside State House.
Kavetu on Thursday questioned why the application was being kept private, arguing that the size of the land did not justify excluding the public from the discussion.
“Just because the head of state wants such a huge piece of land that can accommodate about 148 houses, why should the matter remain private?” he asked.
He said land applications should be treated equally, regardless of the applicant’s position.
“There is no way you have two Namibians applying for land where one is treated privately and one is discussed in public,” Kavetu said.
The six erven comprise three residential plots measuring about 4 700, 5 800 and 4 300 square metres, respectively, as well as three business-zoned plots of about 1 000, 1 000 and 1 400 square metres, respectively.
The application submitted in May was Nandi-Ndaitwah’s second attempt within a month.
Her first application, dated 7 May, sought to buy three plots and an additional portion of land to consolidate them into a single erf of about 8 000 square metres.
The matter has already sparked legal and procedural concerns within the Windhoek City Council.
Independent Patriots for Change councillor Werner-Meck Tjihuiko at the meeting referred to a special council meeting on 20 August, where the president’s application was discussed behind closed doors.
Tjihuiko opposed the in-camera discussion and called for two legal opinions on how the application should be handled, arguing it is inconsistent with the Local Authorities Act of 1992, which he said requires land applications to be discussed publicly.
The item has been deferred to the management committee without any change.
“This item came with a lot of misinterpretation, and that is why we suggested it be referred to two legal experts. Now we are here again, and the item must be postponed to another meeting,” Tjihuiko said.
Councillor Ndeshihafela Larandja last week also opposed the agenda, proposing that all land applications be withdrawn until the legal interpretation surrounding the president’s application is resolved.
Popular Democratic Movement councillor Ignatius Semba said an issue involving the head of state could not simply be kept away from the public.
He also questioned whether all relevant pages had been included in the council documents, saying missing information could prevent councillors from making informed decisions as he noticed a number of missing pages.
Faced with mounting opposition, mayor Sakaria Uunona then withdrew all land-related applications from the agenda.
The council last week proceeded to consider and adopt items unrelated to land, leaving the president’s application pending.
Swapo councillor Fransina Kahungu supported the proposal, saying the council has other urgent matters to address and should not remain deadlocked over the disputed land applications.
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