Allocation of plots a bone of contention in Henties

Henties Bay community members recently staged a peaceful protest in the coastal town.

The chanting group marched to town council offices and handed over a document containing concerns about the allocation of land as well as several demands.

According to the group, the main bone of contention for them is the allocation of plots. “The Henties Bay Housing Committee (HBHC) has observed the inclusion of beneficiaries that raise many questions over the master list for the allocation of plots for ultra-low income earners,” explained Irya Gabriel, a committee member.

The committee alleges that people who lost all their belongings in shack fires, domestic workers, and others are excluded from the final list published by the municipality of Henties Bay in March of this year. According to Gabriel, a period of 14 days was given to raise objections. “We wrote a letter containing our objections and nothing has come of this. The published list contains the names of people who have been dead for more than three years. There are people on the list who are not residents as well as people such as the general workers of the municipality that cannot be classified as low-income earners.”

The HBHC thus called for a fair and transparent housing and plot allocation process and wants to take part in the screening and verification of the beneficiaries. “The allocation of plots for campaign purposes and favoritism must be stopped. Plots must be allocated on merit, considering the neediest members who have been on the waiting list for decades,” Gabriel emphasised.

The aggrieved community members also called for the provision of relief measures for pensioners, the disabled, and marginalized community members in terms of debt management and essential services. They also demanded the scrapping of Redforce as a debt-collecting company mandated to collect funds owed by the residents. According to them, the Henties Bay municipality has further burdened the people by engaging the company. “The poor and downtrodden people must carry the added pain of not only paying the money owed but also the interests levied by this debt collecting company.” The group suggested that debt collection can be handled internally by the municipality and should not be entrusted to a company whose sole purpose is to profit from the misfortunes of their community.

They also accused the municipality of opting to employ people from outside the town, their relatives, and friends. According to them, the municipality's alleged unfair practice of appointing temporal and general workers does not consider the unemployed youth in the town who come from poor backgrounds and even from households with suspended water and electricity services.

The town mayor, Lewies Vermaak, received the document and promised to provide feedback to the group. “We discussed the issue at our management committee meeting on Wednesday. An investigation will be launched on 30 May to determine the validity of the accusations contained in the document,” he told Erongo 24/7.