SWAKOPMUND – Discontented residents of the DRC informal settlement on the outskirts of Swakopmund have threatened to boycott the 2014 elections unless President Hifikepunye Pohamba responds to their plight.
DRC is a sprawling corrugated matchbox iron-zinc informal settlement where hundreds of poor people in Swakopmund have erected shacks. They staged a peaceful march yesterday morning to protest the slow pace of formalising the informal settlement. The process has been dragging on since 2006.
Angry residents handed over a petition to the Erongo Regional Governor, Cleophas Mutjavikua, yesterday in which they expressed dissatisfaction with their elected local authority leaders at the coastal town. “We have lost faith in our elected leaders. They do not want our opinions when it comes to the formalisation of DRC. They just want us to move to a new place, and therefore we do not want to talk to the mayor and councillors. We want to invite His Excellency, President Hifikepunye Pohamba to address our problems. We are more than 20 000 residents and feel our local leaders are not taking our demands seriously. We will not vote in the upcoming elections unless we are taken seriously,” their petition read.
The latest development follows in the wake of last Sunday’s community meeting organised by the Swakopmund Municipality to announce that the formalisation process will only start in September. During the meeting the Manager of General Community Development Services at the municipality, Mike Iipinge, said the registration process would bring the formalisation of the settlement’s development a step closer.
“The DRC development was limited to the planning phase. However, we are now entering the stage of physical interaction, which will take place during the coming months,” he announced. The envisaged registration process is aimed at obtaining information from DRC residents so that the demarcation of the plots, as well as the installation of bulk water facilities can proceed.
According to him a number of people from the DRC community would be selected to assist the municipality with the collection of data and the planned registration of residents. “Those who are selected to assist with the registration will receive training so that the process is conducted smoothly. They would also be easily identifiable by the way they dress and identity cards will also be provided to them,” he said.
Information such as residential addresses, economic status and income as well as personal information will be collected during the exercise.
According to Ipinge, the target group that is to be registered are the present owners of the shacks. He went on to say that a sticker would be placed on each shack, once the shack owner has been registered. The number on the sticker will correspond with the number on the registration form to enable the municipality to identify the owners of the shacks positively. Once all the residents’ particulars are known, it will be easier to finalise the formalisation process, which has become a sensitive issue for the residents of the informal settlement.
During a press conference earlier this year the CEO of the Swakopmund municipality, Eckart Demasius, said the town council needs at least N$600 million to develop the settlement, which has become an emotive issue among residents. The development will see close to 6 000 plots being made available by the town council.
Demasius also said that it is understandable that DRC residents are fighting for a roof over their heads. “However, they are not fully aware of all the processes and channels that need to be followed to develop the settlement. To start off we need the cooperation of all DRC residents, legal or illegal. Everyone needs to be registered. Some of the residents already have houses elsewhere and want a second house. Something that council cannot allow,” Demasius had explained.
“In order to start with the process we need to temporarily move those residing on the wings of the initial DRC. They do not understand that in order to service DRC, we need to move them temporarily to start servicing the land. We cannot start with them still on the land that needs to be serviced. That is impossible. They have to agree on what the council is planning and must make way for council to service DRC. The longer they sit, the longer the process will take,” Demasius said at the time.
By Eveline de Klerk