Living hell in City of Windhoek

MANLEY NOWASEB, SOCIAL ACTIVIST (LCD) WRITES:

Thanks once more for a space in your newspaper to air Windhoek, Katutura residents opinion with the object title; Living Hell in City of Windhoek – which is a contribution I am making as after listening to an interview on Kaisames FM with (former Mayor of Windhoek) Shade Gawanas, now Councillor of Windhoek Municipality.

My writing is framed on how Katutura residents socio-economic development is affected through the maladministration and mismanagement of the City of Windhoek and how residents concerns motioned to the Council to bring change in livelihood of the concerned citizens have lasted the current City Council's entire term with resolutions without visible solutions, which are rather worsening if not diverted to "page not found".



DILEMMA

Windhoek residents mainly in Katutura and linked suburbs as well as informal settlements are caged into a never to resolve dilemma of ever increasing debts and the burden is outrage with debt collector services outsourced to RedForce an entity running its service without remorse, without considering community concerns (a value which the Windhoek Municipality Council is subject to hold up in its community service charter), now RedForce is calling shots for City of Windhoek on how local residents debts must be paid off and City of Windhoek has the will to refer people to RedForce.

In a state with a constitution which value water as a human right, and with government running slogans of "water is life", there are over 30 000 Namibians living without water and electricity on serviced lands and houses and Windhoek is the main one of the affected towns, yet the City of Windhoek charge rates and taxes of N$700 plus monthly for residents with dead sewerage lines, some without wheelie bins and this costs are added on the existing debt bill of N$45,000 while that debt interest also increases continually yet the residents are living in streets without lighting street lights for months with filthy smells with flies pilling up everyday – we have become hopeless in Windhoek and homeless in Namibia as thus marks sight effects of hell.



RADIO INTERVIEW

During the radio interview the presenter Gerson Oreaob rightly placed the councillor Gawanas on the spot, when she expressed herself that the Council meetings of City of Windhoek are established on motions forwarded on community concerns as well and resolutions taken are to be effected and carried out by the management, however that is not the case in visible attributes, because the management does otherwise, so is the Council and Management divided in the City of Windhoek. Could this be the question?

There is much on the matter of City of Windhoek and the unhappy residents of Katutura because the livelihoods of us in Windhoek are deteriorating. This is totally not in line with the UN’s SDG’s which the Windhoek Municipality says to groom on therefore I will continue to use the platform and opportunity of this newspaper to enforce engagement with potential stakeholders and partners of City of Windhoek to bring clearance that the City of Windhoek is established through an Act stern to serve the Windhoek citizenry with guidelines to hear the calls of the communities which elected the City Council as community speakers and therefore the CEO and Management are bound to serve us favourable and sustainable as Windhoek Residents – not to cage us in Living Hell in the City of Windhoek. Amen!



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