Urban Development Minister Sankwasa Scraps Land Auctions, Targets Corrupt Councillors

The days of auctioning State land through overpriced bids and regional councillors striking dodgy deals amongst themselves to illegally acquire multiple portions of land at the expense of deprived residents are over. This is if a Monday warning by urban and rural development James Sankwasa – under whose auspices local authorities and regional councils as well as traditional authorities reside – is anything to go by. He was speaking at the opening of a five-day induction workshop for regional and local authority councillors, chief regional officers, CEOs and administrators at Rundu in the Kavango East region on Monday. Sankwasa said 2026 and beyond will be years of reckoning and astute leadership. Touching on a range of burning issues within the country’s regional and local authority cluster, the minister said the continuous selling of land at exorbitant prices by local authorities at the expense of residents will come to an end. “There will be no actioning of land in any of the local authorities during my tenure – no actioning of land! We did not go to war to fight for land and liberate this country for you to deprive Namibians of land – to deny people of land. “And you people at local authorities tell us that the land is being sold at market-related prices. Which market did you get the land from for you to charge Namibians market-related prices? Which market, tell me? The land is not yours [local authorities]. It belongs to the government. It was given to you by the government, so why charge poor residents market-related prices as if you bought it? So, these things must come to an end because poor Namibians are deprived of land and dignity,” Sankwasa said in no uncertain terms. Still on the issue of land in local authorities, Sankwasa, who hardly minced his words, added that a nationwide land audit process will soon be rolled out to gauge and determine the quantity, quality, value and potential benefits of the land that Namibia currently has. “I’m also calling on local authorities and councillors to immediately stop with land speculation, as it is illegal in this country. As time goes on, we are going to conduct a land auditing process for us to know who owns what and how they acquired it. We have a situation where political leaders at local authorities acquire up to 10 plots for themselves. Since they did not pay for those plots, they start selling the plots to make money. When you were not a councillor, you could not even afford one plot. Now that you are a councillor, suddenly you have 10 plots. “How did you acquire them? It is illegal, and it must stop. For over 35 years now, land auditing is something that we have not done as a country. I think the time is now,” cautioned the minister. Procurement Act The minister also registered disappointment in local authorities who award tenders and projects to foreign companies while locals are yearning for such opportunities. He said such an act denies Namibians prospects to compete and partake in local mainstream economic activities. He added that stricter enforcement of the country’s Public Procurement Act is a must, as government contracts must benefit Namibian citizens, small and medium enterprises as well as women and youth, and not mainly foreign-owned companies. “When I ask why locals are denied such opportunities, I’m told foreign companies have a track record or are the cheapest bidder. But do we really verify these so-called track records, or do we just award these contracts for the sake of awarding them? We must also closely monitor joint venture companies between Namibians and foreigners to ensure that they adhere to genuine local participation and not just fronting arrangements where Namibians are only included on paper,” Sankwasa stated. He highlighted that procurement laws already provide for preference to Namibian-owned companies, but these rules are not always properly applied by local authorities. “Foreign companies should not dominate public tenders at the expense of local capacity. Joint ventures must be real partnerships, not loopholes used to bypass local ownership requirements. Regional and local authorities must take responsibility for enforcing the law, not just awarding tenders,” Sankwasa underscored.