Endombo compound eviction blocked
TSUMEB - An eviction court order that was supposed to be effected on more than 3 000 residents of Endombo compound today at
Tsumebwason Friday suspended by the municipality council. The eviction court order was stopped following a meeting between the property owner, Christoffel Hermanus Groenewald and the Tsumeb municipality.
Endombo compound was a property of Tsumeb Corporation Limited (TCL), that mined copper at Tsumeb years ago, before it was sold to Ongopolo Weatherly Mine and later to the Dundee copper smelters.
The compound was being used by those mineworkers of TCL and Ongopolo as their accommodation since 1963 and are now occupied by Tsumeb residents who pay a rental fee of N$1 000 and N$1 500.
The tenants that run businesses on the compound premises situated approximately two kilometres north of Tsumeb pay a rental fee of N$3 800.
A disagreement between the residents and Groenewald started in 2015 after some residents failed to pay rent and were ordered to vacate the place, which they refused to do, saying they have nowhere to go. In 2017, the majority of the tenants failed to pay and Groenewald dragged them to court which ruled in his favour in November this year.
The court rul i ng was accompanied by an eviction order due today.
On Friday morning, more than 200 residents who form part of Endombo’s 3 000 residents, staged a peaceful demonstration from the compound gate and walked nearly three kilometres to the offices of the municipality where they handed over a petition to the newly elected deputy mayor, Anmire Garises.
Garises was accompanied by her fellow newly elected councillors - David Hamunyela, Hilde Pashe, Frans Kamati, Abraham Baseko and Tsumeb constituency councillor, Gottlieb Ndjendjela.
In their petition the residents demanded from the municipality to allocate free plots to them in the informal areas of the town or to negotiate with Groenewald for it to purchase his property and then donate it to the residents.
The municipality together with Ndjendjela then called a meeting with Groenewald while the residents camped outside the municipal office building.
The meeting concluded with the suspension of the eviction court order from 7 December until further notice in January 2021, to which the aggrieved community members agreed and broke up the demonstration.