By: Kelvin Chiringa
Suppose you have a headache that needs expensive medication from abroad. In that case, you can get land at Okahao Town Council under the special list of beneficiaries, a council document into Okahao’s land deals has suggested.
The Villager has uncovered that a resident of Okahao Town Council managed to get land ahead of many people on the list because he suffered from headaches that needed expensive medication from South Africa and thus needed a plot to develop resell to raise money.
This is at the back of claims by a whistleblower, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, who has claimed that the Council was selling land to politically connected residents.
The Villager managed to glean into council documents highlighting how Petrus Shiimbi ended up benefitting from a N$35 000 piece of land at the town to add on to more plots.
“The Council has also received an application from Mr Petrus Shiimbi, who has severe medical conditions. He indicated that he is suffering from Migraine/Cluster Headache, and the medication he used to control this condition is only in South Africa.
“He buys these medications from South Africa through his medical doctor, and they are costly. This has been draining him financially. He is therefore requesting Council to allocate him a residential property that he can develop and sell to get extra income to sustain him for the meantime,” reads a council document.
The Okahao Town Council chairperson for the management committee, Johannes Uushini, denied this despite documentary evidence that Shiimbi acquired a plot worth some N$35 000.
“I do not know what the issue is all about. The best thing and the good way to get this information about these allegations, which to me are unfounded, is to refer you to the spokesperson of the Okahao Town Council,” he said.
The spokesperson, Victoria Haihambo, responsible for Local Economic Development & Tourism, said, “Mr Shiimbi has consulted the Council for consideration. However, we cannot discuss his private matter (Medical Condition) with the Media.”
She went mute on the land application, further requesting The Villager to “provide the names of the people provided land who are politically connected”.
But eyebrows have been raised as to how was Shiimbi able to service his erf if he could not afford his migraine medication from South Africa in the first place?
The source said, “Imagine as a normal person giving land to someone who is having a severe headache. To service one erf is around N$100 000. How can you tell the public out there that this land was sold the land because he cannot afford to buy medication from South Africa but is willing to service an erf costing more than N$100 000?”
Okahao Town Council mayor Cronelia Iiyambula also referred all questions to the town’s spokesperson.
Shimbi has confirmed to The Villager that he got the land due to his constant headaches but said he only got it from his father and not the Council.
He said he had had more than one plot in Okahao, adding that he was aware of the person leaking documents to work against him out of jealousy.
He did not want to get into more detail on how he managed to get a plot based on his headaches.
In the meantime, the whistleblower said some politically connected people were also taking advantage of loopholes to jump the list of landless residence in the town.
The source said that the former chief executive officer for the town, Timoteus Namwandi, acquired a house under the erf 643“Special Cases” list of people in Outapi’s Extention 1.
According to the source, Namwandi was later appointed chief executive officer for Okahao in 2015 and went on to apply for a residential plot, falling under the special case category.
“In May 2021, he was appointed as CEO for Oshakati Town Council. In July 2021, his comrades at Okahao allocated him a plot, erf 2219 at extension 9 using the special case, although he is no longer an employee in the town. It is unfair because we have people who applied for plots back from 2012 and who do not own a single house,” said the source.
Namwandi has denied this.
“[erf] 643 is a plot which I acquired through a developer, and that was way back in 2004. It was not a special case. I never submitted my application to Outapi Town Council to acquire land. This is the land allocated to developers to deliver on houses.
“I have a mortgage. That was my first house, and that is the only house I have. I had applied for a piece of land in Okahao when I was the CEO of Okahao Town Council, and they normally have a preference for employees to be given land, and I was never given land when I was the CEO. And I am still waiting for them to consider my application,” he said.
