Land and social justice activist, Dimbulukeni Nauyoma on Friday called for immediate intervention from Urban and Rural Development Minister Erastus Uutoni in the demolition of people’s houses at Katima Mulilo in the Zambezi Region.

The demolishing of houses at the Lwanyanda informal settlement started on Thursday after a court order was issued in favour of the council to evict the residents, whom the council said have illegally occupied the townland.

Nauyoma in a letter circulating on social media and availed to Nampa on Friday, said Uutoni should urgently instruct the Katima Mulilo Town Council to stop demolishing people’s houses.

The eviction is being carried out by town council officials and members of the Namibian Police Force through the use of bulldozers and graders, he said.

Meanwhile, Nauyoma in the letter also expressed dissatisfaction with the eviction of residents of Endombo compound in Tsumeb, from their privately rented housing, after they allegedly failed to honour their monthly rental bills.

He said: “It is inhumane in an independent Namibia to see a bulldozer or a grader being used to demolish another Namibian’s house, while there is a housing backlog of nearly 300 000 in the urban areas of the country.”

“The Squatter Proclamation Law of 1985 being applied by these local authority councils is also an apartheid regime law which many Namibian people fought against,” he added.

Nauyoma thus wants Uutoni to direct the two local authority councils to urgently allocate townland to all these affected citizens.

Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, Etuna Shikalepo on Friday told Nampa in a telephonic interview that Uutoni was yet to receive the letter from Nauyoma as he was attending a meeting of traditional leaders in the Ohangwena Region.

“The minister will only return to the office on Monday, and for now I can tell you that he did not receive the letter yet,” said Shikalepo.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency