By Regina Simasiku
WINDHOEK – The Institute of People Management (IPM) wants a street beggar to start a project with monthly payments of N$2 500 but she has instead gone back on the streets because her “baby has run out of milk”.
IPM set aside N$30 000 to be paid in monthly instalments of N$2 500 to disabled beggar Tunae Kandjou, instead of giving her a lumpsum.
IPM president Tim Ekandjo said IPM and Tunae and her mother reached an agreement that she gets a stipend of N$ 2500 over 12 months. The deal was concluded after members of IPM were touched by the plight of the 21-year-old and the idea was to take her off the streets.
But Tunae was recently spotted back on the streets begging for money from motorists and passers-by, just some months after the deal.
Tunae was recently seen begging her usual spot, the traffic lights at the intersection of Robert Mugabe and Jan Jonker Avenues in Windhoek.
Approached for comment, Ekandjo the IPM president said they gave her two months’ allowances for December 2014 and January 2015 at her request and her next monthly allowance was due in February.
Ekandjo said they asked her why she went back to begging and Tunae informed his office that she had just returned from holidays on the farm and her money was up.
They instructed her to go back home immediately and gave her the February allowance on Tuesday since they know January is a hard month.
Tunae told New Era she only went back to the streets once because she lost her ATM card and because her daughter’s milk was finished and the baby cried constantly for milk.
“I make from N$1 500 up to N$2 000 per day when I sit there at the robots, depending on the day of the week,’’ said Tunae.
The money she received from IPM was used in December to buy food, according to Tunae. She bought something for the baby and cattle and she claimed she won’t be going back to the streets again – the day that people saw her there was the last time.
“The monthly allowance allows us to control the sponsorship amount and is aimed at getting her off the streets. The long term plan is of course to find ways to sustain her permanently but we would require her consent and willingness which we are working on. We are cognisant that she will from time to time go back when her monthly allowance is finished but we will not give up on her because it would not be beneficial to her,’’ said Ekandjo.
Dirk Schuler the operations manager of Retail Oryx Properties Limited said it is very dangerous to beg at traffic light intersections.
Abraham Kanime the chief of the City Police has said begging is not allowed in designated municipal areas.