The central bank has taken businessman Erastus 'Chicco' Shapumba to the High Court for allegedly failing to pay N$81 000 in rental costs.
According to court documents, Shapumba - who reportedly rents buildings to government institutions - entered into an agreement in February 2022 to lease the Bank of Namibia's (BoN) Erf 915 for a period of one year (until February 2023), at a monthly cost of N$10 000 with an annual escalation of 10%.
The bank provided occupation of the property to Shapumba in April 2022.
Two months before the lease expired, in December 2022, the BoN notified Shapumba that the lease agreement would not be renewed.
"Despite the cancellation, the defendant (Shapumba) remained in occupation of the property, the plaintiff (BoN) was, therefore, entitled to charge the defendant rental," part of the court document reads.
The bank further alleges that a renewal agreement was forwarded to Shapumba for signing and, save for the last page, the remainder of the agreement was not returned to the BoN's designated agent. In terms of the new agreement, the BoN would charge Shapumba occupational rent on a month-to-month basis. However, the central bank alleges that Shapumba vacated the premises without notice on or about 24 November 2023.
"At the time of the defendant's exit from the premises, the defendant (Shapumba) was in rental arrears in the amount of N$81 000," court documents read.
Shapumba told The Namibian last week that his lawyer would comment on the matter but the lawyer did not give a response. The Namibian also contacted Shapumba on Thursday regarding the response from the lawyer but he did not respond.
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In January, The Namibian reported that the government spent around N$11 million over the past 10 months to rent an office building in Windhoek owned by Shapumba.
Information seen by The Namibian at the time shows that the government entered into an agreement with Shapumba, starting in April 2024, to rent his building in the city centre.
New Era reported in 2013 that the Opuwo Town Council sold the government-owned Newman Katuta Stadium located in the then central business district for around N$1.3 million to Shapumba.
In 2016, the Oshakati Town Council sold Erf 1342, previously known as Omatala Shapumba, for N$2.5 million - an amount considered to have been cheap.
The Namibian reported in 2023 reported that the state-owned Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency (Amta) paid N$57 million to Shapumba for two deals involving land.
One was for Amta to lease a Windhoek-northern industrial property for N$45.9 million, while another payment of around N$10.5 million was for leasing a plot at Oshikango.
An Amta investigation found that the parastatal did not conduct due diligence on the Windhoek property, and that the Oshikango land had no description or title deed.
Last year, The Namibian reported that urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni reportedly approved the sale of land at Oshakati to Shapumba worth an estimated N$30 million for N$8 million.
