Ondangwa Town Council has dismissed as false a report in a local newspaper that it had donated a piece of land valued at N$300,000 to its former mayor, Paavo Amwele.

Speaking to NBC News, the town's Chief Executive Officer, Ismael Namugongo, said the plot in question is where the current mayor's business complex is located, and he obtained it in 2004 before he became a mayor.

He said the plot was not donated as per the article, citing that in 2016, the council decided as part of the town's development plan to open new routes to the Ondjondjo open market.

In the process, a number of businesses were compensated.

Namugongo says Amwele gave up a portion of his land to make way for a road as new erven have been created.

In this regard, the former mayor ought to receive a new title deed for the remaining erven.

"We needed to do our planning, which is legally done by our professional town planners to indicate and to conform to what is on the ground. After that the council began to go into another step of transferring and giving title deeds to the owners of those affected properties that are indicating exactly the sizes of the erven that I have indicted. And maybe the confusion is coming because of the word 'donated', but to alienate the property from the council to an individual, you donate or sell it, but it's his plot; we just use that word 'donating'."

He urged the public to register their objections to the town council.

"That advert is calling for the community to give their objections, and when you do that, you need to give reasons why you are objecting, and we will reply to you to give clarity of what has transpired."

The council will also seek ministerial consent from its line ministry.