No respite for 72 fire victims at Aussenkehr

About 72 families at Aussenkehr who lost their homes in a blaze a few months ago are still without proper housing, water and sanitation.

This fire was the third in the area this year.

One person died in the first fire, while the second and third fires destroyed property.

Karasburg West constituency councillor Taimi Kanyemba says some of the victims have reconstructed their houses in the same area.

“We received donations of corrugated iron from the Rosh Pinah Zinc mine for every household. The last time I visited, a large number had already reconstructed their houses,” she says.

Kanyemba says the regional council will resettle community members on a small portion of land owned by the council and issue them with leasehold agreements.

“The land at Aussenkehr is privately owned. The council owns a small portion on the outskirts, where we are planning to resettle at least 600 beneficiaries,” she says.

“The fact that I am on suspension makes it difficult to help my people. Here we don’t receive drought relief, we mostly depend on donations, and I always have to go knock on people’s doors,” she says.

Swapo’s //Kharas region coordinator Mathew Mumbala says the situation on the ground is bad.

“As a party we went once, and gave our donations of food and clothes and we are still going there.

As we speak, the matter is with the Office of the Prime Minister,” he says.

Mumbala says it’s difficult to help the fire victims, since the regional councillor has been suspended and has no access to funds.

“The regional council has stopped money from reaching the councillor. We are campaigning so hard to remove these small parties that cannot even run a municipality. We gave them a chance, but they misused it,” he says.

The High Court instructed the //Kharas Regional Council to reinstate its suspended Swapo representatives in September.

Councillors Lazarus Nangolo, Taimi Amakali and Susan Ndjaleka sought legal recourse after the council suspended their salaries at the end of July, based on a council resolution that terminated their council membership for allegedly failing to attend three consecutive meetings.

Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) spokesperson Imms Nashinge says the party has donated food, clothing and mattresses to the fire victims.

He says it is difficult to help with housing material, since the residents do not own land.

“The place is not formalised, there is no town council or village council,” he says.

The IPC held a rally at Aussenkehr over the weekend.

While addressing the rally, IPC president Panduleni Itula told attendees not to vote for Swapo.

“If you give that power to another party, you are giving the power for unemployment . . . And you are giving the power for the conditions of housing we see here,” he says.

“Some time ago, they tried building on the other side and they even serviced the land. Now it’s completely destroyed,” he said.

Landless People’s Movement //­Kharas Regional Council chairperson Joseph Isaaks says the council has reached an agreement with the Namibia Grape Company and Silverlands to construct houses for the workers in partnership with the government.

Isaaks says the challenge is that companies want title deeds, and because Aussenkehr is a settlement it can only receive leasehold agreements.

“Currently we are busy working with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform to assist us in issuing title deeds to the land only for Aussenkehr settlement, as it is a precarious situation,” he says.

He says the council has serviced 5 000ha of land that owners donated to the government.