Okahandja residents fed up
Residents feel ignored
Frustrated Okahandja residents say they are considering taking legal action against the urban and rural development minister if their concerns are not addressed.
The Office of the Presidency has reportedly rejected a request for a meeting with President Hage Geingob, which was made by a group of Okahandja informal settlement residents.
The president's office said the residents' complaint had already been addressed, and they were referred to urban and rural development minister Erastus Utoni, as reiterated in a written response from the executive director in the president's private office, Moses Pakote.
The residents had previously marched to the urban and rural development ministry's headquarters in Windhoek, as well as to the prime minister's office, in their attempts to draw attention to their grievances.
No hope
Their concerns include a lack of access to electricity, water, land and housing security. Else Kehinana, who has lived in the RCC Camp in Okahandja for almost 30 years, said she still does not have land after the house she resides in was gifted to her family in the past.
However, the municipality has not responded to her applications to purchase the land.
The land has meanwhile been sold for about N$100 000, and an eviction notice was issued to remove the original 30 RCC Camp households from the area.
The community are waiting for the execution of the eviction notice.
The municipality plans to relocate the residents to a new residential area near the town's landfill site.
"At RCC Camp, we have been there for a long time - almost 30 years - but we do not get hope. Every year, we are told to wait while houses are being built around us. What do they think of us? Are we not human beings? Are we monkeys to be taken to the field?" Kehinana asked.
Deteriorating conditions
She accused Okahandja's management of being corrupt and said the community does not benefit from any new development at the town.
"It was not always like this. Okahandja is a big place with history, but now it's just a dustbin," she said.
Sethy Gariseb, a community activist, said: "The government does not respond because we are the ones asking questions... The line minister sends us back to the same incompetent town council members, but they have not met with us, and the minister has not come back to us either."
He said, as a last resort, residents are considering taking the minister to court.
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The president's office said the residents' complaint had already been addressed, and they were referred to urban and rural development minister Erastus Utoni, as reiterated in a written response from the executive director in the president's private office, Moses Pakote.
The residents had previously marched to the urban and rural development ministry's headquarters in Windhoek, as well as to the prime minister's office, in their attempts to draw attention to their grievances.
No hope
Their concerns include a lack of access to electricity, water, land and housing security. Else Kehinana, who has lived in the RCC Camp in Okahandja for almost 30 years, said she still does not have land after the house she resides in was gifted to her family in the past.
However, the municipality has not responded to her applications to purchase the land.
The land has meanwhile been sold for about N$100 000, and an eviction notice was issued to remove the original 30 RCC Camp households from the area.
The community are waiting for the execution of the eviction notice.
The municipality plans to relocate the residents to a new residential area near the town's landfill site.
"At RCC Camp, we have been there for a long time - almost 30 years - but we do not get hope. Every year, we are told to wait while houses are being built around us. What do they think of us? Are we not human beings? Are we monkeys to be taken to the field?" Kehinana asked.
Deteriorating conditions
She accused Okahandja's management of being corrupt and said the community does not benefit from any new development at the town.
"It was not always like this. Okahandja is a big place with history, but now it's just a dustbin," she said.
Sethy Gariseb, a community activist, said: "The government does not respond because we are the ones asking questions... The line minister sends us back to the same incompetent town council members, but they have not met with us, and the minister has not come back to us either."
He said, as a last resort, residents are considering taking the minister to court.
– [email protected]
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