Linea Dishena
Whilst it is the government’s obligation to provide its citizens with clean water, accessing clean water for livelihoods continues to be a daunting challenge for many Namibians living in low-income communities and rural settings.
This challenge is experienced by many in the Kavango East and West regions, where the Kavango River is a major source of water, but inhabitants have to fend off crocodiles to access it.
Many such incidents have left some people wounded, while others have paid with their lives.
Meanwhile, some communities such as at Amarika village in the Omusati region, situated 73 kilometres from Oshakati, continue to fear for their well-being due to the intake of high salt content from self-made wells, while those in Ohangwena have to walk distances of more than 10 kilometres to access potable water.
Nampa caught up with Ndjodi Ndeunyema, an early career research fellow at the University of Oxford in England, who launched a book titled ‘Re-invigorating Ubuntu Through Water: A Human Right to Water under the Namibian Constitution’ in Windhoek recently.
Ndeunyema said water is a fundamental right for Namibians as provided for by the Namibian Constitution under Article 6, which guarantees protection and respect for life.
He said many Namibians, however, still cannot access clean water, notwithstanding the constitutional provision.
Ndeunyema noted that Namibian courts can rule, through an application of a bounded deliberation model, on appeals of individuals and communities who continue to suffer water insecurities and are on the receiving end of water stress.
“The book is aimed at provoking thoughts and consciousness of knowledge across all sectors to collectively seek to resolve water issues, noting that it can equally be used as a resource for policymakers, politicians or lawmakers to be enriched by its perspective,” he said.
According to the Namibia 2011 Population and Housing Census report, access to clean drinking water in urban areas is at about 98%, whereas the percentage of households with such water access drops to about 59% in rural areas. Sixteen per cent of rural households rely on unsafe water from rivers or streams, whilst 13% rely on unprotected wells.
Special Adviser on Africa for the United Nations and retired advocate, Bience Gawanas, echoed Ndeunyema’s sentiments, saying the government has a social contract to provide a dignified life through respect, protection and fulfilment, such as providing access to clean water.
“When people go to vote, they are voting because politicians have included many promises in their political manifestos. They go to the informal settlements and rural areas, manifesting that people will have access to water and sanitation. Therefore, when political parties get into power, it becomes a social contract, setting an obligation on government to provide such,” said Gawanas.
She stressed that people continue to vote in the absence of the government meeting its obligation, and that nobody raises the fundamental issue of government’s accountability on the use of natural resources, such as water, for the greater public good and ensuring that Namibians live in dignity.
“The book makes us question some of the things we have assumed, because it is a State directive. Therefore, you cannot go to court and enforce them. Many of the root causes of conflict relate to the scarcity of natural resources. Therefore, through this book, we have an opportunity to say to ourselves that prevention of conflict is better than managing it. Therefore, it is imperative for a collective Namibia to continue engaging on the issue of water being a fundamental human right to concretely rectify the past legacy,” she added.
According to the 2020 World Bank Development Indicators, access to an improved water source is defined as the percentage of the population which can obtain at least 20 litres of water per person per day from an ‘improved’ source that is within one kilometre of the user’s dwelling.
Meanwhile, Namibia’s 2011 Housing Population and Housing Census report also said 30% of households have access to piped water within their housing units, while 19.7% access piped water outside their dwellings.
Some 99% of households in Khomas have access to safe water. However, only half of all households have access to piped water inside their homes. In the Zambezi and Kavango East and West regions, this figure drops to only 12%. Households in these regions rely mainly on public pipes and rivers.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform in 2020 secured a loan of nearly N$1.9 billion from the African Development Bank for the implementation of the Namibia Water Sector Support Programme (NWSSP), which is aimed at increasing access to quality and sustainable water supply.
In an interview with Nampa, NWSSP Coordinator and Technical Assistant Chimwangá Maseka said to ensure that every person has sufficient water at an affordable price, through the four-year implementation programme, government is expanding water purification plants; distribution pipe networks; and increasing the storage capacities of reservoirs to ensure water security, supply and sanitation.
Maseka revealed that NamWater has commenced with three major bulk water projects, which include the extension of the Rundu purification plant, the Oshakati purification plant and the Ohangwena Wellfield development, as well as the Abenab borehole establishment.
He highlighted that in order to improve access to rural water supply, eight projects are being implemented by the Directorate of Rural Water Supply Scheme and Sanitation Coordination at Ruacana in the Kunene, Otjombinde in Omaheke, Katima-Kongola-Ngoma in Zambezi, Iitaapa-Okeeholongo in Omusati and King Kauluma in Oshikoto.
He noted that to ensure that the obligation of the right to water is addressed, during the planning and implementation of these projects, the government holds extensive consultations with key stakeholders, including regional councils, traditional leaders and other government ministries.
“The ministry is open to consultation and engagement on challenges that communities and individuals face, and where community needs have been identified as far as water is concerned. The ministry, through support from the Ministry of Finance, works hard to extend pipe networks or drill new boreholes where needed,” Maseka added.
He indicated that the ministry’s challenges to ensure access to clean water includes inadequate rural water supply and bulk water infrastructure and the distribution networks in municipalities, as well as long drought spells in Namibia, which severely affect the availability of water for industry and human consumption. -Nampa