Unprecedented push and pull factions between government, residents and the traditional leaders on who owns WENELA has just brought the war of words among the electorate.
Some residents of that area who most of them are former farm workers have refused to honour the eviction order by the office of the regional governor which claims that the land is under the jurisdiction of Zambezi region and have therefore ordered people to leave the area for the envisaged green scheme project.
While residents are saying they cannot leave the land in question without being given the land where they can build their houses.
According to the just ended registration of voters by the Electoral Commission of Namibia, WENELA /Katima Farm residents were registered to vote in the local Authority elections for November this year.
Not so long , 8 grand children of the first white businessman in the formerly Caprivi Strip ( Mr. William ( Bill) Finaught) have been seeking for legal assistance to get ownership, inheritance or compensation of the properties and land in question as it was.
Though, these grand children wanted to own the land property legally but all to no avail. The Namibian government and some private individuals have a keen interest in the plot.
Still in the same issue, the land in question has caused a dispute between the late Finaughty’s grandchildren and KMTC in the past.
Nevertheless, the concerned grand children were discouraged by the acid test that the proclamations of the disputed land was eventually turned into a prime land by the local government of Katima Mulilo and the Namibia Development Corporation (NDC), is claiming to be the owner all properties but not the land itself.
We still have it on record that the land had been at loggerheads being claimed by these grand children who have been claiming compensations of about N$ 90 million from the government as part of their share, because it was owned by their late Grand Father who indeed played a very pivotal role during Namibia’s quest to independence which all the elders at Liselo and around Katima Mulilo still admitting the existence of the area at the time.
Other burning issues in the process at hand is to otherwise recommend that if the land belongs to Katima Mulilo Town Council since 2005 when the delimitation commission extended the boundaries of the town to that area then, it does not make any sense for the Regional Council to evict people because the residents have already registered to vote for the local authority this shows automatically that the land under conflict is under the jurisdictions of Katima Council.
If government wants to take over and continue utilising that land with the green scheme unlike the previous owner which later turned into a white elephant then should do so in order to bring food and employment to the people who are jobless
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