Katima Mulilo demolishes illegal structures

THE Katima Mulilo Town Council is demolishing incomplete structures at Lwanyanda settlement to discourage land grabbers from building there.

The Lwanyanda compound is earmarked for a multimillion-dollar green val-ley project which will include 480 residential plots, a mall and a school. The first phase of the project is already underway, with the construction of sewer lines at the site.

The town’s mayor, Charles Matengu, during a press conference yesterday said they are not demolishing houses where people live, but targeting in-complete structures.

Matengu urged those setting up their structures to start moving to the plots allocated to them at the newly established Nova compound, as they are illegally occupying coun-cil land.”There are close to 3 000 plots at Nova compound where we are relocating residents. Currently we have provided them with water tanks while we wait for NamWater to connect the water pipe to the com-pound for them to have a permanent water supply.

“We, at council, are not inhuman. We care for our people, which is why we are doing all of this,” he explained. Matengu added that despite all their efforts, some Lwanyanda residents still refuse to be relocated.

“We have secured about 100 tents which they can use temporarily while they build their houses at the new plots which they will be allocated, so there is no reason for them not to move,” he stressed.

The chief executive officer of the town council, Raphael Liswaniso, said they are waiting for a court order before evicting the people.

“Summonses were issued to those living at Lwanyanda settlement to op-pose and the deadline was 14 January. However, no one has opposed. We are now waiting for the court ruling to evict those refusing to move. We therefore request these people to use this time to move voluntarily. They should come to [the] council and register to be allocated a plot. We want to relocate them in peace, not forcefully,” he said.

One of the residents, Ivan Siam-bango, noted that they do not have a problem moving, but are worried where their children will attend school, as the new compound currently has no school.

“The distance our kids have to walk to the nearest school is far if we have to relocate. We also do not have money to build a new house and were informed there is no water there,” he said.Responding to their concerns, Liswaniso said people should not be worried about services such as schools and clinics as there are plots allocated for such facilities to be built at the new compound.