SWAKOPMUND: A mob of unhappy residents residing in the DRC informal settlement situated on the outskirts of the tourist down, indicated during a meeting held here on Sunday, that they will not move an inch from the area.

The meeting came in the wake, after spokesperson of the group, Ambrosius Marsh, allegedly received information, which indicated that the town’s Council, wants to move the residents about 3 kilometres (km) north of their current location, whilst the area is being developed.

An angry Marsh called on a meeting Sunday, to show the people on a chart, where the alleged ‘new’ location would be situated.

Marsh claims that the residents are being moved to a new location near the new dump site, en route to Henties Bay, without Council asking the residents for their input.

During the ordinary Council meeting held last month (August), Mayor of Swakopmund, Rosina //Hoabes, announced that the Municipality has been granted full approval of the development of the DRC informal settlement.

She said that after years of persistent efforts, the Municipality of Swakopmund finally managed to convince other stakeholders to accelerate the process of formalising the DRC informal settlement.

A formal tender for the survey of the area has already been invited which will require some people to move and pave away for the development.

It was stipulated in the agenda of the Council meeting, that the illegal squatters who have surrounded the DRC area since the beginning of the year, hampers the implementation of the formalisation of the land.

The agenda further stipulated, that the squatters who will have to be registered, will be moved north of the current DRC so that the area can be formalised.

According to Marsh, Council decided in the last general meeting, that they will move the residents north of the current DRC, but did not indicate on the agenda of the meeting, where the location of this land would be.

“I believe the reason why they did not include the map of the ‘second’ location, is because the Municipality knew that they would provoke chaos amongst us, the residents”, Marsh told Nampa.

He continued to claim that the Municipality stated that there would be a contract for the people who are leasing land in DRC, but the people are refusing to sign.

Marsh continued to tell Nampa, that the residents do not feel protected in the contract as the contract does not include their opinion.

“They (Municipality) want to force a contract upon us, but we want to be given the platform to say what we want to say and give our input regarding the future of the DRC”, the residents stated during Sunday’s meeting.

Marsh added that they don’t want the Municipality to explain the document (contract) to them, as they would prefer their own independent person to analyse the contract.

“They are moving people to develop it, but how we are going to know we will come back to our ervens even if they tell us we can come back,” he added.

The residents handed over a petition last month (August), to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Swakopmund Municipality, Eckart Demasius, demanding concerns such as sanitation, the burning of shacks and the water card system and formalising of the settlement to be addressed.

The residents indicated after handing over the petition, that they want a response from the municipality by the end of September.

“We are now waiting for the feedback concerning the petition handed over last month to the CEO, before taking any action,” Marsh added.

Demasius however told Nampa on Monday, that it is difficult to give comment as there are different steps do follow concerning the petition.

“We cannot give comment until this process is completed. My door is always open to the community, so they can come to my office and get the right information concerning the plans of the DRC,” he said.

A mob of unhappy DRC informal settlement residents indicated during a meeting here on Sunday that they will not move an inch from their homes located on the outskirts of Swakopmund.

Spokesperson of the group, Ambrosius Marsh, allegedly received information, indicating that the Swakopmund Town Council wants to move the residents about three kilometres north of their current location, to pave the way for development.

During the meeting on Sunday, an angry Marsh, using an unofficial map, showed DRC residents where the new location would allegedly be situated.

Marsh claimed that residents are being moved to a new location near the new dump site en route to Henties Bay, without council asking the residents for their input.

During the ordinary town council meeting held in August this year, Swakopmund mayor, Rosina //Hoabes announced that the municipality has been granted full approval of the development of the DRC informal settlement.

She said that after years of persistent efforts, the Municipality of Swakopmund finally managed to convince other stakeholders to accelerate the process of formalising the DRC informal settlement.

A formal tender for the survey of the area has already been invited. The development of the DRC will require some people to move to a different area.

It was stipulated in the agenda of the Council meeting that the illegal squatters who have surrounded the DRC area since the beginning of the year, hamper the implementation of the formalisation of the land.

The agenda further stipulated that the squatters, who will have to be registered, will be moved north of the current DRC so that the area can be formalised.

According to Marsh, Council decided in the last general meeting that they will move the residents north of the current DRC, but did not indicate the location of the land.

“I believe the reason why they did not include the map of the ‘second’ location, is because the municipality knew that they would provoke chaos amongst us, the residents,” Marsh told Nampa on Sunday.

He further claimed that the municipality stated that there would be a contract between them and the affected residents, but the people are refusing to sign the document.

Marsh said residents do not feel protected in that contract, as it does not include their opinions.

“They (Municipality) want to force a contract on us, but we want to be given the platform to say what we want to say and give our input regarding the future of the DRC,” the resident stated during Sunday’s meeting.

Marsh added that they don’t want the municipality to explain the contract to them – they would prefer their own independent person to analyse the contract.

“They (municipality) are moving people to develop it, but how will we know for sure that we will come back to our ervens, even if they tell us we can come back,” he added.

The residents handed over a petition last month to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Swakopmund Municipality, Eckart Demasius, demanding that their concerns such as sanitation, burning of shacks, water card system, and formalising of the settlement be addressed.

The residents indicated after handing over the petition that they want a response from the municipality by the end of September this year.

“We are now waiting for feedback concerning the petition handed over last month to the CEO, before taking any action,” Marsh added.

Demasius told Nampa on enquiry Monday that it is difficult to give comment, as there are different steps to follow concerning the petition.

“We cannot give comment until this process is completed. My door is always open to the community, so they can come to my office and get the right information concerning the plans of the DRC,” he said.

Council will meet on Thursday this week.