RESIDENTS from the Thlabanelo informal settlement in Katutura have expressed frustration with a faulty water meter which the municipality installed in their area.
The prepaid water meter cards have been made available to the residents from Monday, 29 September 2014.
Numerous residents who were in the queue, told The Namibian they waited since 6 am. Several residents complained that the queue was extremely long.
Ruusa Shigwedha, an unemployed resident from the informal settlement, said she had been coming to the office since last week Monday. “The magnet is not working properly. I keep coming back for a new one. This is the third time I am here for the same reason.”
A prepaid water card costs N$100. Thereafter, the card must be regularly recharged.
Another disgruntled resident said, “the service is very slow. Sometimes you will find one employee registering people for the water cards. And while there are those that do not work properly, there are those that work.”
“Some of us had to take a day off from work in order to get our cards finalised and you end up standing in the queue all day. The bad thing is that you have to come yourself. You cannot send someone to come and do it for you and not everyone in the queue gets assistance,” explained the resident. According to an official from the municipality, although there are only two working counters at the Wanaheda office, the municipality is in the process of getting a third person to work at the third counter.
The official said, “the majority of the people in the queue came to register for the prepaid water meter cards but it is not just them. Residents also come for other services.”
Currently, residents are only able to obtain the new water meter cards from the municipal offices of Okuryangava and Wanaheda.
Before the municipality came up with this initiative, residents in the informal settlements used to share a communal meter.
The official further added that queues are not normally this long. It is simply the people who did not have their own water meters, who are getting them now. “The people getting the new prepaid water meters have been waiting since 2010 for this and now only are they getting the service,” said the source.
More than 3 000 people are said to benefit from this initiative and more water meters are set to be installed in various other informal settlements.
Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for
only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!
