By: Andrew Kathindi
Walvis Bay Mayor Trevino Forbes said he was looking into how two Chinese businessmen bought land at the port town about two weeks ago during an auction.
Forbes said he was seeking clarity from councillors.
The auctioned land is made up of 12 business erven in Kuisebmund and 31 light industrial erven in Walvis Bay extension 14.
The Villager could not establish how much the Chinese paid for land and what is the land’s value.
Forbes could not give much details saying that he was in a meeting.
One-time Walvis Bay urban councillors Knowledge Ipinge said that there were irregularities in the process in which the municipality sold off the erven.
Ipinge said he knows the businesspeople who bought the land but was not in a position to divulge further information until he had received a response from the Walvis Bay municipality.
According to Iipinge, the coastal municipality showed favouritism over others during the auction which took place on 6 August.
“We have learned that two Chinese nationals who bought two erven only on Monday and Tuesday after the auction, which was held on Friday 6 August, and not on Friday, which is when they should have paid, which is preferential treatment,”Ipinge claimed.
He added that some individuals came out top in terms of the auctioning and they had their 10 percent ready to pay, but where not aware of the 15 percent VAT and hence they were sent away.
“Information that reached us, which is actually on record, is that there are individuals who bought the erven but only paid the 10 percent and not the VAT. They treat one person this way and another person gets preferential treatment,” Ipinge said.
Ipinge further said the bidders were asked to pay a non-refundable registration and bidding document fee of N$300, inclusive of VAT for a maximum of five documents (N$300 per document).
According to Iipinge, only two or three individuals within the municipality knew about the transactions, leading to about five erven being sold in a ‘dubious’ way.
Ipinge said that he has approached certain councillors and was waiting for information on the way forward.
The latest claims on irregularities in selling erven in Walvis Bay come after the municipality recently opted not to extend the contract of its chief executive officer (CEO) Muronga Haingura who was on suspension for “missing millions” in the connection with the Massive Urban Land Servicing Project.
source: The Villager
