WALVIS BAY – The Walvis Bay Urban constituency offices have set up a garden project with the aim to alleviate poverty and unemployment. The pilot phase of the project was launched three months ago at the town.
The project, which is also aimed at empowering people living with the HIV virus, was set up with funding sourced from the business community at a cost of N$18 700.
According to the Walvis Bay Urban Constituency Councillor Hafeni Ndemula, 40 people are currently benefitting from the project whose main focus is to sustain its beneficiaries for them to become self-reliant while at the same time giving them access to cheap nutritious vegetables.
“Apart from the garden project, my office is continuously seeking ways at which we can address unemployment, mainly focussing on women. Another significant project which is run from our offices is the bicycle repair project which targets women,” Ndemula explained.
He said his team also managed to secure N$50 000 for revitalizing the computer centre at the Walvis Bay Multipurpose Centre.
According to Ndemula, regional councillors are mandated through the Regional Councils Act of 1992 to coordinate and oversee the wellbeing of Namibians and come up with projects aimed at improving the living standards of all Namibians.
“Walvis Bay is also facing challenges of unemployment, hunger, domestic violence and rural and urban migration to mention a few. The responsibility is given to us to come up with modalities to permanently solve these issues and contribute to the realization of Vision 2030. In order to overcome these social ills we need uninterruptable efforts, and that is what we elected leaders of Swapo have been doing,” Ndemula told New Era.
By Eveline de Klerk