Keetmanshoop
The Minister of Urban and Rural Development has assured Keetmanshoop residents that all the mass houses that were vandalised will be renovated before they are handed over in two weeks’ time.
In a telephonic interview Minister Sophia Shaningwa assured the public and especially those individuals set to receive houses through the mass housing project, that all houses would be in a good condition by the time they will be handed to their respective owners.
There is growing concern among Keetmanshoop residents over the state of some of the houses built as part of the mass housing project, as most of the houses are without their solar-powered geysers, while windows and water pipes are broken.
The houses remain in this deplorable state, despite reports that they will be handed over to their owners in about two weeks’ time, and residents suspect the new owners will have to renovate the houses at own cost.
Shaningwa, however, assured the residents that everything is under control and not a single individual will receive a vandalised house, saying she has a plan to ensure all vandalised mass houses are renovated before being handed over. “I have a mechanism in place as to what should be done, so assure the public that I will come and hand over quality houses,” she said.
The minister is, however, disappointed about what she called “negative reporting” by the media on the mass housing project, saying many journalists tend to put more focus on the negative aspects only and report nothing positively about the project.
“We have houses that are not vandalised. Why are you not reporting on that? Your headline should not be minister coming to give vandalised houses, that is not news.”
Shaningwa recently said her ministry and the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) will soon start allocating all houses constructed under the first phase throughout the country and Keetmanshoop is set to be one of the first towns to benefit. Shaningwa was widely praised last week after she handed over some mass houses in Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Henties Bay.
Chief executive officer of Keetmanshoop Municipality Desmond Basson confirmed during a media briefing on Tuesday that only 65 of the 320 houses are completed and the list of the 65 beneficiaries is being reviewed and will be finalised in due course. The remaining 255 incomplete houses will also be allocated to their owners, who will then have to wait for their houses to be completed, said Basson.