An investigation into the availability of urban lad and its implications on national security of Namibia: A case study of Windhoek (Khomas region)
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Date
2018
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
The main aim of this thesis was to investigate the availability of the urban land and its implication for national security in Namibia using the case study of Windhoek (Khomas Region). The City of Windhoek has been faced with the problem of slower pace of allocating affordable land and servicing that has seen the gap between demand and supply widening drastically and the growing numbers of people from rural areas to Windhoek resulting in increased demands for serviceable land. The convenience technique was used to sample the participants for the study. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews and observations to investigate, firstly, the availability of land in Windhoek. Secondly, the factors that lead to the slow process of allocating affordable urban land to Windhoek residents to build shelter were investigated. Thirdly, the study explored the implications that the unavailability of urban land has on national security. After analysing the data through the qualitative methodologies, the study found that the problem that low-income earners and landless people in Windhoek encounter in acquiring land is high price in purchasing land for dwelling, high interest rates on mortgage bonds to income and collateral requirements of financial institutions and serviced land in Windhoek benefits only the high-income earners. The study found that the major challenges that the City of Windhoek faces is the shortage of developable land, lack of technical capacity, limited financial resources embedded with cumbersome procedures in the process of preparation and approval of detailed plans as prepared by land experts has been a catalyst for the low capacity of the municipality in allocating land. The study further found that due to the unavailability of affordable land, most of the poor people in Windhoek live in very poor living conditions and overcrowded in informal settlement which is a threat to human security. The study recommends that there is a need to review the existing policies on land allocation to address issues of land scarcity in Windhoek, land servicing and delivery models need to be reformed to take into account the rapid population dynamics. The study further recommended that the City of Windhoek need to be empowered with both technical and financial capacity to facilitate in provision of effective and efficiency services of providing land for housing.
Description
A research proposal submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Security and Strategic Studies
Keywords
Urban land, National security