Government moves to formalise shacks – Land Tenure System pilot project kicks off
Following a directive from the Second Land Conference that shack dwellers be afforded titles to their properties, the government commenced with the pilot phase of the Land Tenure System which will lead to the formalisation of shack ownership.
The Flexible Land Tenure System provides affordable security of tenure to people living in informal settlements or to low income households and with the goal to establish a formal tenure registration system which is parallel and complementary to the current freehold tenure registration system.
The development of a Flexible Land Tenure system is registration is currently underway. The expected outcome is that shacks registered under the Flexible Land Tenure Act of 2012 are legitimate and protected by law, transferable, inheritable and that they can be used as collateral for financing purposes.
According to Peter Amutenya, Executive Director in the Ministry of Land Reform, the government is assessing whether the provisions of the act can be successfully implemented.
The project is currently piloted in Oshakati’s Onawa Informal Settlement; in the Freedom Square informal settlement in Gobabis and in Windhoek in Onyika and Freedom Land B, he said.
“It is our believe that the pilot will be completed within the planned time and that good lessons will be drawn to enable the successful roll-out of the project to all local authorities’ countrywide,” Amutenya said.
Meanwhile, the system will only target people living in informal settlements. It has so far seen the establishment of the Land Rights Office and a steering committee in Windhoek.
