DTA meets Walvis Bay's landless residents

TELLING people to be patient and to follow procedures to acquire land does not calm them down, but merely builds more frustration as they have been patient for too long.

These were the remarks by the DTA of Namibia’s national chairperson and member of parliament Jennifer van den Heever in response to urban and rural development minister Sophia Shaningwa’s request to residents of Walvis Bay, who were evicted from state land earlier this month. Van den Heever was addressing about 50 Tutaleni residents on the land issue in a church on Tuesday evening. She said the residents had requested to see DTA president McHenry Venaani, but she had come on his behalf to hear their housing concerns. She said something must be done urgently to reduce the bureaucracy plaguing municipalities for them to efficiently deliver land to people.