A Windhoek based advocate for justice and human rights has offered to help a Katutura family of 12, who lost their house in an arbitrary auction by the Municipality of Windhoek to recover their home.

 August Maletsky, who has made numerous appearances in the High Court on behalf of the less privileged said he would assist Matthew Haufiku, a retrenchee who last week saw his house auctioned for N$90,000 after a failed attempt to pay of half  the N$6,000 he owed the municipality on the same day of the auction. Maletsky said he would file an application to the High Court to suspend the transfer of Erf 2768 into the name of the new owner.
“I will scrutinise the merits of the case to see what the chances are for a possible suspension of the transaction. If the transaction was done in an unfair manner I will apply to have the transaction declared null and void,” Maletsky said. Haufiku’s house was sold in his absence when he went to make the N$3,000 payment toward his N$6,000 municipal bill.
Maletsky said the transaction could be reversed even if the payment for the house was already made.
“Although in practice ownership of the house has changed, in law it has not changed, we will fight this matter in the High Court until they get back their house,” he said.
Katutura is littered with numerous other house sales that have ended in stalemate, as coalitions of community groups and lawyers have been protesting against the repossession of poor people’s houses by the city council.
“The poor people of Namibia have been deprived of more houses after Independence to the advantage of property developers than they have ever been deprived of their houses throughout the entire period of colonialism. The rate at which they lose houses after independence is threatening,” Maletsky said. 
So far, a group known as the United Community Organisation for Community Welfare and Social Affairs (UCOCWSA) has blocked the auctioning of 10 houses in execution, and has asked at least four families not to move out of the repossessed houses.
“I will try my utmost best to have the house recovered,” Maletsky said. “A gross injustice has been committed. In fact, that’s not an injustice, that’s a crime, a heinous crime.”
The Haufiku family is still living in their house, after UCOCWSA President Nicolaas Burtze instructed them to resist eviction while he continues to challenge the transaction.