Obrein Simasiku
Omunyekedhi-San communities living at Omunyekedhi in King Nehale Lya Mpingana Constitutency say they have gone for several months now without receiving drought relief food.
The last time they benefited was last year, where they received fish and cooking oil, but they did not receive any maize meal, they claim.
They revealed this on Tuesday during an engagement with the Oshikoto Regional Council chairperson Samuel Shivute and the constituency councillor Leevi Reinholdt when they donated clothing to the community.
The councillors said they had no knowledge of that and repeatedly asked them whether it was just one of their (San) ‘tendencies of selling or exchanging mealie meal for liquor’ and they need more. But they maintained and stood their ground that “we only received the maize and other food items last year, this year we didn’t receive anything.”
Meanwhile Reinholdt said he will find out more of what has been happening for them not to have received drought relief food. However he was quick to point out that perhaps the situation could have been caused by the change of centres.
“They used to receive their food at Oshongwe, and they want a centre to be established in their area. But I will find out what happened,” said Reinholdt.
Oshongwe is situated far from Omunyekedhi village, an approximate distance of 10 kilometres. However the question remains whether these people are still registered as beneficiaries or not.
Meanwhile, the chief regional officer Frans Enkali could not be reached for comment as he was in a meeting and he did not respond to questions sent to him on the issue.