The recent flooding of shacks in Windhoek’s informal settlements is a stark reminder of the dire need for proper housing in informal residential areas. 

The fact that this is not an isolated incident, as it occurs after almost every rainy season, paints a painful picture of the hardships some Namibians are forced to endure at the whims of nature.

It is sad to see people losing their meagre world possessions in a flood, including their dwellings altogether. 

One would be thankful that no lives were lost.

 However, in the greater scheme of things, this would do little as consolation for what is lost. 

The City of Windhoek and its partners need to be applauded for rising to the occasion.

 They showed that human life and the restoration of dignity to its residents far outweigh the dynamics and politics of how residents got to settle in the flooded area. 

For years, the City has been battling a scourge of illegal squatting within its boundaries. 

It has been a big, recurring problem that refuses to go away. 

Whether the relocation area chosen by the City fathers for these families to start afresh is the most ideal and humane for such purpose is a story for another day. 

The site is literally in the mountains, far from civilisation and basic amenities. 

The City will probably do its best to level the ground and allow people to erect their shacks on it. 

 However, this plug-and-play approach might not be sustainable in the long run. 

We cannot afford to keep putting out fires without determining their real causes and nipping it in the bud.

By all comparisons possible, the lack of proper housing is just the tip of the iceberg as far as these developmental challenges are concerned.  As such, even responding to this crisis with temporary accommodation shelters could be akin to treating the symptoms on an even bigger issue rumbling underground.

The fact that most of the shacks swept away by the raging waters were built in riverbeds in informal settlements says it all. 

It speaks of desperation. It is a call for help from fellow citizens who happen to find themselves in such an unfortunate scenario. 

The picture revealing itself is that of a high urbanisation rate, as thousands of people stream into the City in search of better economic opportunities. 

It is not only people from underdeveloped rural areas who stream into the City but also those from other smaller towns. 

This is where we start eating the fish. This is its head.  Government, being the largest employer by far, have attempted to bring services closer to the people – and by extension, employment opportunities – through decentralisation of its services. 

But this process has been progressing at snail’s pace, and is currently far from reaching its set objectives. 

If people do not get economic opportunities where they live, they will go elsewhere where such opportunities are possible. 

However, we remain hopeful, for Rome was not built in a day.

The situation also calls for the private sector to equally do more by rolling out economic opportunities for those in smaller towns and villages. 

It calls for the primal development of the primary industry, especially the agriculture sector, which has shown great potential to provide such opportunities. 

Asking the youth to simply remain in the villages and work the land is not enough without real market value for their produce and effort.

The hope is that no Namibian will be forced to build a house in a riverbed, knowing that they will not be standing for long. 

No one deserves to sleep with one eye open as the rain hits on their roof. 

Rain is indeed a blessing for a dry country like Namibia, but when it impacts people’s lives in ways such as these, many might beg to differ.

It might be a long road before all the pieces of the puzzle fit snuggly into each other in dealing with this issue.

However, there is no better time than the present to start working on it. 

Let us make hay while the sun shines.