Groot Aub residents demand urgent action from municipality

Residents of Groot Aub have submitted a petition to the City of Windhoek calling for immediate improvements to essential services, including water, electricity and road maintenance.

According to Windhoek Rural constituency councillor Piet Adams, electricity, water, sanitation and waste removal services were intended as tools to reduce poverty and inequality. However, Groot Aub residents continue to struggle without basic services which should be guaranteed.

The petition, which detailed the community’s ongoing challenges including water shortages, was submitted yesterday afternoon.

“Some parts of Groot Aub have been without water for the past two to three years. The current situation forces them to pay for water at a cost of N$200 to N$250 for a one-thousand-litre tank,” he said.

Despite a high-level visit in February 2023, where seven new boreholes were drilled to address water issues, the water situation has not improved, he said.

“We are becoming tired of excuses about water tables dropping. If that’s true, why are Windhoek residents not affected?”

Adams further said Groot Aub is still not electrified. Although NamPower expressed willingness to provide electricity services to the area, the City of Windhoek reportedly delayed the necessary permission.

“We demand the granting of permission to NamPower to electrify Groot Aub as a matter of urgency,” he said.

The petition also calls for immediate road maintenance, as poor road conditions have damaged residents’ vehicles.

The residents also want representatives from the City of Windhoek to improve communication with the community, and attend regular progress meetings.

“We have been taken for granted for too long and will not tolerate it anymore.”

Windhoek deputy mayor Joseph Uapingene, who received the petition on behalf of the municipality, blamed local farmers in the area for the insufficient water supply.

“As a responsible local authority, we cannot just supply water from the borehole directly to the taps of residents. We have to clean it. In order for us to clean the water, [it must] come to the reservoir, so that is why we are saying we need that process to be facilitated to give clean water to the residents,” said Uapingene.