By: Hertha Ekandjo
Over 50 houses in Lwanyanda informal settlement have been demolished by the Katima Mulilo town council, following an eviction notice that the council, in 2017 gave the community members.
During that time the residents had allegedly ignored the notice and requested the council to provide them with a court order as evidence of a legit eviction.
According to the affected residents, the council at that time refused to present to them a ‘valid’ court order which it failed to present to them.
A community member, Moses Mushe accuses the town council used an expired 2017 court order to demolish their houses.
“When we asked some of the councilors if they had any court order which gives them the authority to demolish the houses, they said no, and that they were going to demolish the houses at their own risk,” he said.
Mushe says that an Affirmative Repositioning (AR) activist Mukendwa Simasiku was also in support of the council’s plan of demolishing their houses.
“Simasiku said that he will join the council in demolishing our houses since we did not vote for him. But all opposition councilors refused to be part of this,” said Mushe.
Moreover, he noted that the town council chairperson of the management committee John Ntemwa told them that he would demolish the houses without a court order himself with or without the help of opposition councilors.
AR activist Simasiku denied the allegation, saying that he had fought for the community before and that there was no reason for him to go against his community and allow them to lose their homes.
“I am not part of the council, I am not employed by the council, I am not even a council for the council,” he said.
Simasiku added that last year urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni had urged the community to accept an offer which was given to them by the town council to be relocated to a certain area, which was made available for them, but they did not listen.
“2017 when we grabbed land I was part of the committee when we heard that the chief gave the land, the council in 1987 grabbed the land and that`s how we decided to take the land too,” he said.
According to him their chief, George Simasiku Mamili, allegedly gave the community land in 2019 where they had to relocate to ‘land Nova’ where they had to pay N$3,525 for their plots which was a deposit of the price of each plot.
“That money was transferred to the council, the plots have cost N$15,000 and what they paid was just a deposit,” Simasiku explained.
While the demolishing process was ongoing, journalists were allegedly not allowed to film or take pictures of the process.
Kunatela Jackson a camera operator for ONE Africa television told The Villager that he and other reporters were not allowed to cover the event.
“I have received orders from an officer from the town council not to film anything and that I should ask the management for permission. When I approached John Nkemwa, he said he could not speak,” he said.
When The Villager reached out to Nkemwa he said that he was in a meeting and could not talk.