•  Chollastic Tjehiua

Residents of Oshetu informal settlement say the ongoing demarcation of plots by the Okahandja Town Council is causing uncertainty and confusion.  The demarcation are part of the municipality’s township formalization process, which the local authority maintains is a step towards granting residents legal ownership of their land. 

However, some residents claim they were caught off guard as there was no official communication from the municipality. Others expressed concern about the financial implications of the process.  The municipality spokesperson, Master Penna, clarified that the ongoing marking of erven was approved by the urban and regional planning board. 

“In the past, people used informal numbers that were given in the interim. Currently, the surveyor is busy with the surveying of all the plots and the council is marking all the erven with the correct erf numbers,” Penna said.   “A community meeting was held at Oshetu 1 (Khaibasen Centre) on April 5 … [to introduce] the appointed land surveyor and [they] commencement day [and the] numbering of properties with the correct erf numbers by the Municipality,” he said. 

“After surveying, the township will be promulgated in the government gazette and registered in the deeds office. Thereafter council will start selling plots to the current owners.”