Open letter to Ondangwa's town council

JAN W. NEL WRITES:

I recently took time to go see what Extension 21 looks like. What a pleasant surprise. Beautiful well-constructed houses, well laid out with even brand-new tarred roads. Very laudable indeed.

Every coin has two sides. Unfortunately, the other side of this coin is heavily tarnished. Please refer to the attached pictures 1 to 4. These are but four examples of the condition of the tarred road leading past Country Roofing and Solar Age. About 80 to 85% 0f the road looks like this. The condition of roads connecting to this one is even worse and it gets worse with every rainy season. One can actually choose which potholes will cause less damage to your vehicle. Or you can drive next to the road.

I have been living in Ondangwa for the past four years. Not once was an effort made to repair this road. In the meantime, the OTC is constantly filling up potholes and doing other repairs on the streets near and around the CBD. Not very effective, if I may say so, but nevertheless. My question to the OTC is now this. Are the businesses that I mentioned of lesser importance to the OTC than those in the CBD? Or is it maybe that they are not readily visible and therefore out of eye, out of heart? Maybe our honourable mayor or CEO will enlighten me, and the rest of the residents of our town, for that matter. Whatever it is, it is totally unacceptable.

Please now refer to picture number 5 which shows the accumulated garbage next to the road between Country Roofing and Solar Age. It is fairly obvious that no effort was made to remove the garbage for a very long time. On the other hand, the OTC regularly remove garbage and garden refuse from the pavements of the streets next to or around the CBD. Same scenario as with the road repairs and the same question being asked.

Please now refer to picture number 6. This road sign is on the divider of main road B1 just across from Okapana Service Station. It has been like this for the best part of two years. It might sound insignificant, but is this really the message that the OTC wants to send to visitors, passers-by or the residents of our town? Something like “We don’t have time to waste on small things like this.”

Last but not least. We refer to Ondangwa town. I think it should rather be Ondangwa village or Ondangwa farm because of the huge number of goats, cattle and donkeys that freely roam the streets.

I want to conclude my narrative by giving the OTC office bearers something to think about. Please note that this is not a threat, but a fact. Local government elections are on their way.