Brickmaker gets the boot

The Rehoboth town council has served Knewhope Sand & Stone Enterprises (or New Hope Investments) with an eviction letter and instructed it to immediately cease its operations until a new application for land can be considered.

The company, co-owned by Namibian Rickie Maasdorp and Chinese citizen Lei Zhang, has been making bricks on a five-hectare leased municipal plot since last year July, presumably for the sole purpose of providing bricks for the construction of a school hostel which Zhang is building.

The company has, however, expanded its operations and started selling bricks to the public.

Bitter complaints from local brickmakers and surrounding agricultural businesses ensued over alleged unfair competition and undue noise and air pollution emanating from the Knewhope brickmaking plant.

Council CEO Christophe /Uirab wrote a letter to Knewhope, informing them that a council meeting held on 28 August last year had decided not to approve their application to buy the five-hectare plot.

/Uirab wrote that the council had directed that the company should find a new plot.

Its new application for land “will follow the normal procedures for consideration and approval/disapproval”.

Knewhope was further informed that the town council would disconnect all services within five days of receipt of the letter.

Maasdorp and Zhang said the letter, dated 9 April 2018, was only delivered to them last Saturday. They were reportedly given until this Friday to vacate the plot.

According to Suvir Oomadath, who is attached to the company, Knewhope had entered into a 10-to-15-year lease agreement with the Rehoboth town council with the option to buy the plot.

Oomadath says the town council now insists that Knewhope relocate its operations to an industrial area where other local brickmakers are operating from, but argues that this area is right next to the Magasyn informal settlement and close to Blocks A and B. Oomadath yesterday said the company was forced to lay off all its workers.

“Will the Rehoboth municipality give these workers a job? “ Oomadath said.



Maasdorp attacked

Maasdorp has in the meantime been viciously attacked and robbed by six men on the premises of the brickmaking plant.

He was alone on the premises last Thursday evening when the men, all carrying pangas, sneaked up on him, attacked him, tied his hands and feet, beat him up and threatened to kill him.

His left ankle broke when one of the attackers jumped on it.

The attackers demanded cash and got away with N$9 000, a laptop computer, a camera, cellphones, and a .38 Rossi revolver.

Maasdorp made his escape when the men turned to go to the office building on the premises and got help from the security company Eagle Watch, which called the police and took him to hospital.

No arrests have yet been made.

Oomadath said the timing of this attack “suspiciously” coincided with the eviction letter delivered a couple of days later.

Maasdorp echoed this sentiment, claiming that a local brickmaker had previously threatened to close Knewhope down or take over the business.

He surmised that this local player was the “mastermind” behind the eviction, a petition handed to the municipality, and possibly the attack on him.

The local brickmaker allegedly also threatened to kill Zhang.

“He [Zhang] is not a Chinese; he is a naturalised Namibian,” stressed Oomadath.

Zhang said he obtained Namibian citizenship in 2016, a mere eight years since he first arrived in Namibia in 2008.

According to the Namibian Citizenship Act, ten years of ordinary residence in Namibia by virtue of a permanent residence permit is a requirement for citizenship by naturalisation.

A certificate of naturalisation can only be issued after the person has renounced his or her citizenship of a foreign country.

Zhang has denied allegations that he had paid bribes to council officials for the five-hectare plot from where his company has now been evicted.

CATHERINE SASMAN