Zebaldt Ngaruka 

GOBABIS – Former Gobabis mayor Melba Tjozongoro’s political journey has come to an end.

This follows last year’s Regional Councils and Local Authorities elections, which saw Swapo’s Elwin Gariseb elected as the town’s new mayor. 

New Era recently interviewed the politician to gauge her views on her time in office and what the future beyond politics looks like from her vantage point.

Tjozongoro was at the helm of Gobabis under the ticket of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) for three terms.

But now, she has decided to call it a day, saying she wants to focus on other things that will bring her joy.

“I am ageing now and would like to have peace of mind out of politics. I want to spend more time with what will bring me happiness, like my family, agricultural activities and meeting with my farmers every day,” said the former mayor.

Tjozongoro said she enjoyed being among the community.

“I had enough of politics; the difficult part of it is that someone or staff has to do the job with limited or no resources at his or her disposal. If there is a failure in part of it, fingers are pointed to the councillor,” she noted. 

Reflection

Tjozongoro continued that her tenure was a difficult one, as it was overwhelmed with deliberate news headlines in the media.

Asked about the tangible achievement her council achieved during her tenure, she highlighted the completion of the Freedom Square project.

Through flexible land tenure, Tjozongoro said 1 100 erfs were formally given to the deserving community members at N$ 10.00 per square metre, and title deeds were given.

She also mentioned the development of the Canaan informal settlements in the town as one of the major developments. 

“We constructed 32 Build Together houses, which took time to be completed but was a success story as per the Build Together Board of Trustees. We built quality houses; an invitation was extended to local authorities which struggled to complete theirs,” said Tjozongoro. 

She added that 53 ervens were recently allocated to the owners after a long delay, saying that she found this on the table, but fortunately they were allocated to the owners.

Tjozongoro told the publication that her council allocated land to Gobabis Vocational Training Center to build a hostel, while the Namibia Traffic Information System (NaTIS) was given four hectares of land.

“We have also allocated land to the Trans Kalahari Containers Terminal for the truck port, Omaheke Private Hospital, Young African FC, Shack Dwellers Federation (five hectares for men and women in uniform and another five hectares for upgrading of the Nossobville informal settlement), and the development workshop was given five hectares of land in the area. Our last council meeting approved the Extension 6 to BT Construction for building houses,” she mentioned. 

Tjozongoro also added that the roads were upgraded to bitumen standard starting from Gobabis Magistrate Court (Heroes Lane) down to the main Police Station to NaTIS, Epako Clinic, Road Camp and the road going to Epako settlement. 

Water

On the provision of water, the former mayor recalled that the main pipe that takes water to Nossobville was replaced successfully. 

“As we know, there was no water in Nossobville from 08h00 to 17h00 when the town closes due to poor pressure. Its history now,” she said.

In its efforts to respond to drought in the region, the council established the Kruger Camp garden project, which is also primarily aimed at generating income for the municipal council. 

“This project, funded by the Turkish Embassy, was also aimed at providing affordable fodder to the farmers in the region and beyond. It also provides a variety of vegetables to the markets within Gobabis town, the community, old age homes and soup kitchens,” explained Tjozongoro. 

During her tenure, the council upgraded Val en Opstaan Kindergarten with well-structured containers as hostels for the little ones.

She also informed New Era that the Lady Pohamba Maternity Shelter got a shade netting for vegetable production for the waiting mothers to eat fresh food from the garden. 

In the effort to fight hunger in the region, the government allocated Farm Nuwehoop to the municipal council in partnership with the Office of the Omaheke Governor.

However, Tjozongoro said that partnership could not work because the Office of the Governor is not a legal entity, and it cannot be sued or sue.

“A new agreement must be put in place with the company that was formed or so. The new council will deal with the matter further,” she wished.

Tjozongoro further informed the publication that the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development gave N$25 million for the water and electricity meters to be purchased so that the whole town can use the prepaid system. 

“We left this not done yet; the new councillors will be at that task. As we all know, our debts for water and electricity are very high. Plans were left in place to buy prepaid bulk electricity from Nampower, but first the entire Gobabis was to migrate to prepaid and strengthen all loopholes in systems,” she said.

In addition, new skip containers, wheelie bins, and a tractor with a trailer to help with the removal of specified trash were bought during her tenure.

Challenges

On to challenges her council faced during her tenure, the former mayor highlighted the ‘refuse removal’ as one of the biggest challenges in Gobabis. 

“I will not shy away from this one; most of the fleets which the council had were ageing (outdated 1975 truck), and the skip container truck was needed,” said Tjozongoro. 

Another problem was water pipes that used to burst but were upgraded, and only a few cases of water bursts used to be reported compared to the past.

Tjozongoro also recalled that the power outage in the town, which was out of control, was put under control as some lines or feeders to the substation were upgraded. 

“Even with one lightning strike, we didn’t have an outage anymore, but the few challenges that are there are that some underground electric networks are ageing. But, with the ring-fencing of the electricity collections, I hope many problems will be tackled by the new council,” she said.

However, she is hopeful that with the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the council and COSDEC, the students are doing a great job of closing or welding all the light poles which are prone to stolen wiring. 

“I wish the line ministry would allocate enough funds for the developmental projects to take place, especially the servicing of land. No development without serviced land,” she noted, thanking those who elected her to run the council and all stakeholders for their support during her tenure.

– zngaruka@yahoo.com