ILMI Newsletter: Temporary Interruption
Dear all,
due to institutional directive, all newsletters from NUST entities will need to undergo format restructuring. During this time, we will instead send occasional updates regarding ILMI activities and other programme-related updates.
Briefly, we would like to use this opportunity to update you on activities at the institute during last month:
- ILMI projects were showcased at the European Union - African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States Summit meeting in Windhoek (see photos here).
- ILMI board members represent NUST at three sub-committees of the Mass Urban Land Servicing Project (MULSP).
- Four workshops with teachers took place during June. The group is currently setting up the first housing cooperative in Namibia.
- The first workshop on the Campus Transformation project takes place successfully with presentations from students of Architecture, Town Planning, and Land Administration. The project aims at analysing and re-imagining the development of NUST Campus in relation to Windhoek's urban development.
We're also pleased to share with you three new publications that are now available online:
- Werner, W. (2015) Land reform in Namibia: a bibliography. ILMI Working Paper No. 2. Windhoek: ILMI. (Download here.)
- Enemark, S. (2015) Sustainable land governance in support of the global agenda. ILMI Working Paper No. 3. Windhoek: ILMI. (Download here.)
- Enemark, S. (2015) Applying a problem-based approach to land management education. ILMI Working Paper No. 4. Windhoek: ILMI. (Download here.)
We would finally also like to share some of the relevant news that took place last month regarding land, livelihoods and housing issues in Namibia:
- Namibian state currently supporting 610 capital projects amounting to N$32.5 billion over the next three fiscal years. (Note here.)
- New N$1bn offices for the Prime Minister currently awaiting at the tender board. (Note here.)
- Minister delivers mass housing units
- Minister Shaningwa delivers 337 houses in the north; in Oshakati, Okahao and Oshikuku. (Note here.)
- Only 2 out of 62 houses handed out in Rehoboth due to issues found on allocation lists. (Note here.)
- 39 of the 200 planned mass-housing units in Katima Mulilo handed over by Minister. (Note here.)
- Minister delivers houses in Keetmanshoop; repairs to vandalised houses costs N$250,000 (Note here.)
- New Parliament Debate:
- New Parliament “not a priority”: Ombudsman. (Note here.)
- National Planning Commission regards Parliament cost as “expensive”. (Note here.)
- Protests against new parliament on June 16 face new challenges: Minister of Education Arts and Culture tasks schools to undertake ‘Day of the African Child’ celebrations on that day; NamPol chief bans all public protests from 13 to 18 June due to visit of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) and European Union (EU) Parliamentarians to Namibia. (Note here.)
- Affirmative Repositioning march against parliament goes ahead; petition gathers 3,500 signatures. (Note here.)
- N$3.1m spent on consultancies for new parliament; beneficiaries include architects, quantity surveyors and engineers. (Note here.)
- Cabinet approves N$90 million for drought relief for the May-July period. (Note here.)
- New ‘low-cost suburb’ to be developed ‘on a voluntary basis’ in Walvis Bay. The project, called ‘Green Village’, “is the answer to eradicating shack dwellings in Walvis Bay”. (Note here.)
- Minister warns private sector not to “make millions out of the poor”; warns on the use of PPPs. (Note here.)
- 3,500 new pit latrines will be built in Omusati region in the in the next four years. (Note here.)
- Poor working conditions reported at state-sponsored Mass Housing project. (Note here.)
- City of Windhoek discourages residents from using ‘gray water’. (Note here.)
- New desalination plant supplying Uis, Okombahe and Henties Bay, will be built through a German-Namibian cooperation. (Note here.)
- Councillors delay issuing of land in Khomasdal. (Note here.)
- 700km of road construction planned for Erongo region. (Note here.)
- Hundreds of housing structures demolished in Katima Mulilo. (Note here.) Town Council affirms that squatters in settlements are foreigners; it asks Home Affairs to intervene. (Note here.)
- Deputy Minister of Land Reform criticises the land reform process as “a total failure”; he also openly dismisses the relevance of the new Parliament building. (Note here.)
- City of Windhoek to sell land through ‘tender’ instead of ‘auctions’; explains the difference between both. (Note here.)
- An average of 130 ‘shacks’ have burnt in the last three years, according to Windhoek Fire Brigade and Emergency Services figures. (Note here.)
- Parliamentary committee considers the construction of ‘old-age homes’. (Note here.)
- Minister of Veteran Affairs developing recreational facilities for veterans, their dependents, and the general public. (Note here.)
- Vice-President warns that European Partnership Agreements must be handled “carefully” and that if mishandled ‘may impoverish and bring more suffering to the affected countries’. (Note here.)
- Illegal fencing and leasing of land reported in Guinas. (Note here.)
- Windhoek ‘loses’ title of ‘cleanest city’ to Kigali; the challenges of keeping the city clean are explained. (Note here.)
- Houses in Ondangwa without sewerage system after ten years of being built. (Note here.)
- City of Windhoek to spend N$70m in the provision of electricity to informal settlements. (Note here.)
- Minister of Urban and Rural Development requests documentation of land acquisitions in Okahandja from former Minister, former Mayor, and former CEO. (Note here.)
- Tsumeb afflicted by unpaid rates and taxes. (Note here.)
- Okahandja major wants land sales moratorium lifted. (Note here.)
- Gobes residents plead to stop eviction from privately-owned farm. (Note here.)
- New development involving Presidents’ interests questioned at environmental impact assessment meeting. (Note here.)
- Governor reports that N$4.5bn allocated for construction of housing through the Build Together Programme has not been utilised for six years. (Note here.)
- N$1.3 million collected for the Shackdwellers’ Federation of Namibia through Standard Bank’s “Buy-a-Brick project”. (Note here.)
- Exclusive new coastal development will be erected in ‘the last empty beachfront’ in Swakopmund. (Note here.)
- Namibian National Farmers Union asks government to stop implementation of new South African import regulations affecting negatively local industry. (Note here.)
- President declares drought a national emergency. (Note here.)
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EPA's signed. The European Union signs ‘economic partnership agreement’ with SADC countries. Article 68 outlines cooperation on agriculture; it states that members recognise the importance of the agreement on “food security, generating rural employment, increasing incomes of farm households, creating an inclusive rural economy, and as a basis for wider industrialisation and sustainable development” and also notes that " export subsidies on agricultural goods in the trade between the Parties shall not be allowed”. See statement and full document here.
Namibian Vice-President sends message of caution ( here) and Minister of Finance calls on EU countries to respect trade sovereignty ( here).
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About ILMI
The Integrated Land Management Institute is a centre of the School of Natural Resources and Spatial Sciences (SNRSS) at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) committed to develop reputable and multidisciplinary research and public outreach activities in the field of land, administration, property, architecture and spatial planning.
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