Tujoromajo Kasuto
A WARRANT of eviction has been issued against the heirs of late Bernhardt Uahupirapi, who are scheduled to vacate the farm Wild Kuhl in the Otjozondjupa Region.
This comes after the executor, who also happened to be the father’s younger brother, sold the property to the government under “dubious” terms, according to the heirs. Uahupirapi died in 2004, and his 24 children allege that the farm was in debt of more than N$780,000 at the time of his death, which the heirs claim they paid out in cash. But when the land was sold and the riches dispersed, the heirs were not compensated.
However, the executor, Ebenestus Uahupirapi, contested all of these assertions, claiming that the money used to settle the debt was provided by the whole family, not only the heirs as claimed.
The farm was purportedly sold for as little as more than N$ 2 million, and the heirs felt the price was too low, as well as that the sale was not made in good faith, since the executor should have instead secured a government waiver.
Most of the heirs were in favour of selling the farm, with just six opposed, which the High Court Masters did not support since they indicated that they had no intention of acquiring the farm out of the estate, and were merely trying to postpone the administrative procedure.
Only six people who remain on the property claim they have not received a dime since the site was sold in 2016, a claim Ebenestus refuted. Banny-Benz Rukoro, a spokesman for the heirs, claims that it is not in the best interests of land distribution for those who have been previously disadvantaged to lose their property, while the government buys land to relocate the previously disadvantaged.
According to numerous records in the hands of the Windhoek Observer, the court case that led to the heirs’ eviction, dates back to 2012, with them having been served with several eviction notices dating back three years, but they have refused to evacuate the property since.
The necessary procedure was followed, according to Masters of the High Court, and the heirs’ protest has no direct influence on the liquidation and distribution account, but rather the sale of the property.
As a result, because they served their purpose, the Masters were unable to reconsider or reverse their judgment about the sale and encouraged the heirs to seek aid from the High Court, which ultimately resulted in the government’s favour, leaving the heirs with nothing but a nostalgic bond to the house they once called home.
