Okahandja’s informal settlement residents demand basic services

The residents of various informal settlements at Okahandja have been camping outside the Okahandja Municipality’s offices since Monday.

The residents of Vergenoeg, RCC Camp, Promise Land, Saam Staan, Oshetu Number 1, 2 and 3, Sweet Village, Dom Lokasi and Ekunde 6 are demanding the provision of basic services, land ownership rights, better roads for emergency services and improved security.

They are demanding immediate action from the municipal authorities, the town council and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development.

“We will sleep here until the minister of urban and rural development, Erastus Uutoni, attends to us and listens to our demands because for so long we have handed over petitions to the council but nothing has been done,” says resident and community activist Sethy Gariseb.

Gariseb told The Namibian residents have been demonstrating for the past six years and despite their elders having fought long before that, the government still has not taken them seriously.

“We are tired and angry at being treated like third-class citizens. We are only important during election season but our concerns are never addressed. We are just given empty promises year in and year out,” Gariseb said.

The residents submitted a list of demands they want urgently addressed which includes the lack of basic services like water, electricity and proper sanitation facilities.

Despite their continuous pleas, they say their needs have been neglected by local authorities, leaving them to live in deplorable conditions.

In the statement, residents demanded answers from the urban and rural development minister on what happened to the funds allegedly collected by the municipality for the upgrading of informal settlements.

“They asked us to each pay N$165 per household to upgrade our poor services but nothing changed,” Gariseb said.

The residents claim the municipality opened a bank account on 3 January specifically for this purpose. Despite the contributions, they say they are yet to see any tangible progress.

“What is the update on that account? Where is that money?” the residents wrote in a letter to the minister.

“We want to know when our issues, which have been on your table for years, will be addressed? We have been patient with all of you for way too long,” noted residents.

The residents of Promise Land say councillors advised them to buy pipes to bring water to their area but to date there is still no water.

“We want water points so that people can have access to water as soon as possible.”

The protestors say they will not leave the municipality’s premises until they receive satisfactory answers.

“If we don’t get answers today, we are sleeping over here. We will sleep here until we are heard and taken seriously. We have been to the president but got sent back, so we believe you can solve our problems, you just don’t want to.”

In addition to their demand for basic services, the residents also want improved land ownership rights, better roads for emergency services and enhanced security measures. This includes the establishment of a mobile police station in the community.

Residents also expressed concern about deteriorating conditions at the town in terms of refuse removal and rampant crime.

“The town mayor, the governor and the councillor should get involved in community matters,” one protestor said.

“They don’t have a clue about the livelihoods of residents of the informal settlement.”

According to the Okahandja deputy mayor Akser Aupindi, the municipality is unable to comment on the matter because the residents refused to hand over their petition.

“When I went there to receive the petition, they refused to give me the petition because maybe they wanted the petition or their demand to be received by the mayor and the minister.”

Aupindi said the council does not have the mandate to force the minister to receive the petition or to receive it on his behalf.