Popular Democratic Movement president McHenry Venaani says local authority councillors should scrutinise municipal by-laws to see if they are responsive to the current needs and issues of their electorate.
Venaani made the observation while visiting and sympathising with the 111 fire victims that are currently living in tents at Walvis Bay.
A child died in the latest shack fire in Walvis Bay.
The PDM leader, during the visit, indicated that he met with the local authority council to lobby for land on behalf of those living in shacks.
“These shacks are death chambers and we cannot allow our people to perish in shack fires anymore. We can’t turn a blind eye while our people suffer. Let us flatten some of the dunes to allow our people to relocate from these death traps,” Venaani said.
Venaani explained that he wants the council to make at least five hectares of land available to relocate the fire victims.
He added that the housing challenge has become a crisis, not only in Walvis Bay but across the country. The councillors must look at outdated by-laws and reform them, he said.
“Policies and laws must be reviewed to address the current challenges. We cannot run Walvis Bay the same way we did 15 years ago. The demands are not the same. We are experiencing migration and urbanisation and should be able to respond to these developments,” Venaani said.
Local authority councillor Richard Hoaeb last week also appealed for assistance from government for the council to respond to the housing challenge at Walvis Bay.
Hoaeb said the fact that there are now more shack fires should move council to find solutions for the housing challenges which the town faces, and should not be taken lightly.
“We should not be losing lives due to shack fires,” Hoaeb emphasised. Walvis Bay Rural constituency councillor Florian Tegako also said shack fires are a problem, especially to the most vulnerable community members of his constituency.
“They are not sleeping at night, as fires have become a problem. Even a normal beep makes one think that it is a fire. That is how traumatising these fires are,” he said.
Fires often occur in the densely populated informal settlements and among the backyard shacks in Walvis Bay.
In December, about 140 residents of the Tutaleni suburb at Walvis Bay were left homeless as yet another fire ravaged through their structures. On 26 July 2020, over 200 people were left homeless at the Twaloloka informal settlement and in January 2021, a further 121 people were left homeless by another shack fire.
– edeklerk@nepc.com.na