Ongwediva
Would-be mass housing beneficiaries in Oshikuku are still without homes as the houses have not yet been handed over to the town council for distribution, nor has a beneficiary list been created to date.
The 79 houses stand empty with no occupants. The last phase of the houses was completed last year in August.
Oshikuku Town Council has over 1 000 applicants for houses.
Town mayor Mbokoma Mungandjera said the 79 houses would certainly lessen the burden of the housing crisis in Oshikuku, but the council’s hands are tied as it is not the custodian of the houses.
“We want to distribute houses to those who need and can afford them. But we are not the owners of the mass houses, those houses are built on NHE (National Housing Enterprise) plots and not the town council’s land,” he said.
According to Mungandjera, the council at present has no say in the houses, citing that the custodian of the houses is “between the ministry of local and regional government and the NHE”.
“My own thinking is that NHE has an idea of who the houses should be allocated to as well as the cost,” said Mungandjera.
Mungandjera, who has been with the council for 15 years, also said he was not satisfied with the development of the town and would “want to see a different Oshikuku”.
“This is not how I envisaged Oshikuku,” said Mungandjera.
Presently, council is in the process of formalising the previously informal areas, Extension Two and Extension Four.
Projects that are currently ongoing at the two extensions include water-drift and storm-water channels.
Council is also in the process of building gravel roads at Extensions Two and Four as well as surveying Extension Seven where the council’s cultural heritage museum is to be constructed.
According to Mungandjera servicing some of the areas in the town is likely to lessen the burden of accommodation.
Oshikuku is densely populated by nurses and teachers.