The lack of employment in rural areas is driving the masses into urban areas in the hope of finding a job.
RUNDU – According to a new official government report urban poverty is becoming a serious concern in Rundu and Katima Mulilo as a result of an increase in the number of impoverished rural communities taking to settling on the periphery of town lands. The report reveals shockingly that most of the people found at dumpsites are women and children. Among the women 90 percent are married, 5 percent were never married, while the remaining 5 percent are divorced.
“The unavailability of employment in rural villages has resulted in an influx of a mass of people in search of jobs in towns,” the report states. It also reveals shockingly that most of the people found at dumpsites are women and children. Among the women 90 percent are married, 5 percent were never married, while the remaining 5 percent are divorced.
Researchers who visited a dumpsite in Katima Mulilo near the Zambezi Vocational Training Centre (ZVTC) say negative effects like land degradation and air pollution have a negative impact on nearby institutions of higher learning, such as the University of Namibia campus and the VTC in that town. “Most orphans spend more time at the dumpsites than in class[rooms], because they are hungry and want to satisfy themselves by collecting food there. In addition, others have dropped out of school as a result of a lack of funds to pay the school development fund,” the report continues.
It seems not only people scavenge at dumpsites, according to the report, since cattle were also found rummaging for paper and plastic bags at the Rundu dumpsite.
The report also revealed that the dumpsite in Katima Mulilo is not fenced, therefore, it makes it difficult to manage and to prevent people from accessing the rubbish. In addition, it also emerged in the report that resources distributed to the regions in terms of funding from central government and other donors are not fully capitalised, therefore making it extremely difficult to manage and carry out the objectives of government programmes and projects. “Generally, poverty cannot be reduced if economic growth does not occur. In fact, the persistent poverty of a substantial portion of the population can dampen the prospects for economic growth,” notes the report.
It is suggested in the report that in order for government to overcome urban poverty it should take measures to minimize or control rural poverty through community projects such as poultry farming, brick-making and strengthening green scheme projects to create employment.
The deputy mayor of Rundu Bonny Kahare told New Era yesterday that migration from rural to urban areas is the root cause of urban poverty. “I see that rural to urban migration is the problem in this regard. Therefore, we need more developmental programmes in the rural areas. This will also attract more services to these areas, meaning people will not have any reason to migrate to urban areas,” said Kahare. He added that there is a need to establish regional technical committees on local economic development so that they can advise the regional leadership on matters pertaining to economic development. “We need focused leadership, because we cannot only have leaders who depend on central government for developmental programmes. As leaders we have to be innovative to tackle these problems,” he said.
By Mathias Haufiku