… due to non-payment
ONGWEDIVA – Scores of communities in northern Namibia are living without potable water, since the water supply has been suspended due to non-payment.
It is alleged that some communities opt to enjoy water without taking the responsibility of footing the water bills, which have now collectively accummulated into thousands of dollars a month. Apart from the fact that the majority of villagers in the north rely on government water supply for household use and livestock, some are allegedly running businesses such as brick-making from communal water points at no cost while some taps are left at the mercy of children leading to senseless waste. Last week the Namwater Manager for Strategic Communication Johannes Shigwedha confirmed that the water supply has been suspended at certain communal water points due to non-payment. “At other water points, [water supply to] cattle troughs were closed already in the past, because communities were not willing to be responsible for the registration and payments. As such most of these troughs remain closed to date,” said Shigwedha.
Shigwedha maintained that water points were not closed recently, but before the drought commenced already. According to him, some cattle owners have huge numbers of livestock and yet shrug off the advice from Namwater to form water point committees to manage the consumption of water.
“All that the water utility is asking for, is for these communities to organise themselves and ensure that the water utilised is paid for. Leaving water with no one responsible is a wastage of this scarce commodity,” said Shigwedha. Shigwedha pointed out Gwanuunyango cattle trough in Elim constituency in Omusati Region where water consumption, mainly for livestock costs up to N$13 000 a month. However, the community is only prepared to pay N$140 a month irrespective of the number of cattle which drink there. “Since no one seems to want to pay, Namwater encouraged the cattle owners of this water point to form a committee and manage water payment contributions from all cattle owners. This did not work out in the past. So everybody continued to use water as they wished. The water point was, however, reconnected on 30 August 2013 after a management structure was put in place,” said Shigwedha
The issue of water non-payment at communal water points emerged recently during consultations on the drought situation in the country with Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku in the north. Some councillors told the deputy premier that the water supply to some of their communities has been suspended. During the meeting, Hausiku urged councillors and other community leaders to talk their communities into finding solutions to pay off the debts. “Some people are business people, they are using water to make bricks and sell and they are not paying a cent. When somebody is doing business, somebody is making money, but communities are just watching and they are not asking them to pay. In fact, when we see someone doing business they become honourables.
Now you want water taps to be reopened, reopen them for what? For misuse? Even municipality water gets cut off. [Leaders] go to the ground and negotiate with the people and find a way how they can pay up. We’ll put up a system to protect water,” said Hausiku. It is however not clear how much these communities owe Namwater which supplies water to them through the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. In the Oshana Region alone, water supply to 25 water points has been suspended, but Shigwedha confirmed that this problem is not only confined to that region, but also features in the Ohangwena, Omusati and Oshikoto regions.
By Helvy Shaanika