Hopefully the Rundu Town Council’s officials and executives are doing pretty well in their respective offices. We, the residents of Rundu, are partially doing well. Members of the town council, I have a few questions to bring under your attention. The questions might appear offensive, but I’m sorry! Today, when you woke up in your beautiful houses or apartments, how is the water availability in there? Did you comfortably bath? Did you proudly do your laundry all these days? I infer, your answers will be ‘no’, so why not? Moreover, when you drive your sleek cars to work, how are the roads’ conditions in town? Are they smooth or potholed?
Water
Water supply in Rundu is becoming a crisis, particularly in Queenspark, Tutungeni, Donkerhoek, Katutura, Sauyemwa, New Millenium to mention a few locations. Where is the problem, exactly? These days water supply in Rundu is not reliable at all. How on earth would a normal human being survive without water for a period of a week? But, when it comes to water bills, we get over-charged for the little water we have used. When nature calls one cannot help or relieve him/herself properly, because most of the times there are no flush toilets, unless one has to resort to unhygienic alternative ways to help him/herself.
I could compare it to the outcry of a crocodile that dwells on an island in the mighty Kavango river, but yet, it laments suffering dehydration although it is surrounded by water. Similarly, Rundu is located close to a perennial river, yet its inhabitants are mostly deprived of water. It doesn’t make sense at all. Water is a physiological need, not a want! This would force people to use unpurified water from the river, which contains germs, consequently people may fall sick. Therefore, the town council must improve primarily the piping system and water pressure in order to reach the people efficiently and sufficiently.
Roads
The state of roads in the town is a disaster. Most of the roads’ potholes look like craters on the moon. To prove my point, just observe the state of the road from the traffic circle eastward to Kehemu open market and from Sauyemwa four-way stop to Vibe club. That tendency of temporarily plugging potholes and renovating roads only when prominent figures such as executives are visiting the town should come to an end. The latter will only be in town for some days, but we the inhabitants will be staying here virtually forever or so.
In conclusion, Rundu is a very beautiful town, both geographically and socio-economically, however its resources and infrastructure are being mismanaged and mal-administered by incompetent individuals. Therefore, we really need to improve on the aforementioned aspects. With the imminent regional and local authorities elections, should we still vote incumbents back in office? Fellow ‘Rundunian’, I don’t want to turn you into a revolutionist, but vote wisely this time around. It is time to flip the coin or never. The recent USA election should be a good mirror to watch and introspect on ourselves as town councillors. Let meritocracy prevail!