City of Windhoek councillor Austin Kwenani said the illegal erection of shacks in the city delays development plans in certain areas and ultimately limits municipal services.
He made these remarks, as land grabbing has been escalating not only in Windhoek but across the country in areas such as Arandis, Omaruru and Usakos.
“Before electrifying an area, it is a requirement that the area must be properly demarcated according to the city’s layout, which is not the case in some areas, such as at places where new structures keep on popping up and are delaying the formalisation process, as well as installation of required municipal services,” the City stated this week after conducting a consultative meeting with residents of the Moses //Garoëb constituency over the weekend.
The meeting’s chair, Kwenani, advised community leaders to try to urge people not to build illegal structures because, according to him, this small action severely delays the City’s plans.
According to the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN), Windhoek remains the greatest challenge for the federation to secure land for almost 80% of its members.
However, SDFN is optimistic that cooperation with the City is moving in a positive direction.
Meanwhile, lack of access to finance and land has been identified as two of the major obstacles that lead many citizens to erect shacks just to have a roof over their heads. Many informal area residents have told New Era their monthly income is simply too low for them to afford rent.
While government has attempted to rectify the slow pace of delivering serviced land and affordable housing, such as through the N$45 billion Mass Housing Project a decade ago, the implementation and execution of these and similar programmes has done little to alleviate the plight of the houseless in the country.
Last year, Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) president McHenry Venaani tabled a motion in the National Assembly to debate alternative housing financing schemes.
At that stage, he described the current housing situation as “distressing, intolerable and shocking”.
In his motivation, Venaani noted there are 285 informal settlements in towns across Namibia, translating into 40% of urban inhabitants or 216 000 urban households being informally settled.
This state of affairs is indicative of the high urbanisation rates across the country.
Furthermore, during this weekend’s meeting, new concerns addressed by the community included a request for numbering previously unnumbered structures, as those without official municipal numbers face challenges in obtaining water cards that are used for collecting water at communal water points.
“There is a need for prompt repairs of communal taps upon reporting. Requests for timely permissions to either extend or renovate their buildings also need attention. Residents also voiced concerns about the prevalent crime in their region, urging for quicker police responses and the installation of additional high mast lights in areas vulnerable to criminal activity,” the City stated.
Furthermore, the City is currently installing more toilets and communal water taps at various constituencies within informal settlements, with this programme expected to be completed in June 2025.
The objectives of the programme are to reduce the ratio of households using one toilet as well as reducing the distance travelled by residents to access water points.