Windhoek land deal for President questioned
A Windhoek city councillors has questioned why a proposed sale of about 14,000 square metres of land to President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, in her personal capacity, is being treated as a matter for discussion behind closed doors.
The issue was raised during the Windhoek council meeting late last week Thursday, where the councillors also questioned the way items on the council agenda had been classified as either public or in-camera matters.
According to Maitjituavi Kavetu, the proposed sale to the President involves approximately 1.4 hectares of land, while a separate application involving Cricket Namibia is listed as a public matter.
He questioned why the two land applications were being treated differently. "Why is one private and one is public? It's two Namibians buying land. One is the head of state. One is Cricket Namibia," he said. The councillor argued that the presidential land parcel is large enough to accommodate about 488 residents and approximately 148 houses.
He said the public should be able to participate and have a clear view of what was happening with the land application. Kavetu also challenged the council to explain why the application should be treated as a private matter simply because the applicant is the head of state. The matter was raised while the council was considering the sequence and adoption of its agenda. He further stated that the council needed to establish whether the division between public and in-camera matters was being handled correctly.
The transcript does not provide the council's final decision on the presidential land application.
