The Omaheke region is famous for its farming activities, rich heritage and economic potential.
However, in recent times, the region has been grappling with a food security crisis, high poverty rates and lack of employment opportunities.
New Era journalists Lahja Nashuuta (LN)recently sat down with the region’s first resident, governor Pijoo Nganate (PN), to gauge the situation from the horse’s mouth.
LN: You were entrusted by the president as the political head of the region. How big a responsibility is it?
PN:I consider myself a gatekeeper, who is supposed to do three things: to protect and provide for the well-being of the people and their needs as well as protect them against things that might harm them. Whether it is emotional, physical or hunger – protect their well-being. To be given a region where you were born was never an easy task because, as they say, prophets are never honoured in their own country or motherland. You are given the region where the majority are struggling with hunger, unemployment and a population of 23% San community. Most of the land is commercial land, and indigenous people are squeezed into small communal land with a lack of water, as the underground is very deep. They also graze in an arid region.
It is a hard region to create employment in because there are no industries. The region is being served only by a single town, which is Gobabis.
Unlike any other region, people flocked to the town in search of greener pastures, such as employment or better education.
That has placed a burden on the town council in terms of service delivery.
It is also a region with too much potential.
Gobabis is ideally located, and it is the gateway to the rest of the Southern African Development Community region. Currently, there are about 500 trucks travelling through our region to the neighbouring countries.
The proximity of Botswana is something that needs to be capitalised on.
The Trans-Kalahari highway that runs through our region could also be an opportunity for entrepreneurs to capitalise on.
I am honoured to serve in the region where I was born and eager to bring positive changes to people’s lives.
Hence, I accepted the appointment as a task of honour and privilege by God to serve the people.
Since I took over the office, I have travelled through the region with the programme that I introduced, called ‘Governor Service Delivery Day’, where I invite different sectors into the region to engage the community on their challenges and offer some solutions to those challenges.
LN: Talk to us about the unemployment situation in the region.
PN: The region is the least populated, with 102 000 occupants, but also funny in terms of composition, with more men than women. There are no industries, and there is only farming that is taking place. Most of them are for self-sustainable purposes. Those that are doing it for commercial purposes have no value addition. Close to 250 000 livestock are being exported yearly elsewhere to South Africa without value addition.
We don’t have an abattoir in the region, and we at least need two or three for us to add value. Our community will continue struggling to find jobs. However, we have started a value addition project with the Gobabis Vocational Training Centre (VTC), whereby the students will be producing the school shoes from the animals’ skins.
Our intention is to produce 200 shoes by the beginning of January to distribute to the less privileged schoolchildren. We want to turn the VTC into a productive hub that will be able to add value to our livestock as well as other agricultural and natural resources products.
We would like to encourage our students to consider manufacturing, so that when they are done with their studies, they will be able not only to seek jobs but also to be employees. Currently, there are also students at our incubation centre whom our office has funded to start small manufacturing businesses. Besides, we will also encourage our substance farmers to venture into commercial farming. The town council has provided land for the establishment of the incubation centre that will cater to small and medium entrepreneurs.
The other challenge is that most of our people are former farm workers, who were laid off, and have now joined the job-seekers force. Our region is also populated with marginalised communities, of which 23% of the country’s San people are found in the Omaheke region.
LN: What mechanisms are in place to address hunger in the region?
PN:In terms of hunger mitigation, we have taken three approaches. Firstly, we are currently distributing food to 55 000 in all our 11 settlements, covering about 26 000 households. The office of the governor supplies over 2 000 people with food items. It is currently running 34 soup kitchens. Furthermore, my office, in collaboration with Head Start Kids Global Trust, provides children, aged 0-5 years, with a daily 1-gramme sachet of micronutrient powder, mixed with food soup kitchens in Epako – Ondjerera (Tuerijandjera) and Light of the Children.
Additionally, an integrated programme, which includes deworming as well as product education and training has been introduced at participating centres, providing micronutrients to 3 500 children aged 0-5 years at early childhood development centres, soup kitchens and clinics.
Besides that, there is also a government farm outside Gobabis, where the region intends to put a garden as well as livestock farming, chickens and dry crops. At that farm, we will also be adding value to our produce. We want to set up production farms in all seven constituencies.
LN: What are some of the other challenges confronting your region?
PN: Challenges include poaching and stock theft, as well as issues of domestic violence. We are looking at opening a stock theft court in Omaheke for the cases to be sorted in a short period. Drought is still a challenge facing our farmers. The good news is that there are now farmers who are producing feed for our farmers. Illegal fencing and overgrazing are still challenges. Poisonous plants are another challenge that is killing our livestock in large numbers.
LN: What are your views on the elections, pre-and post-election day?
PN: It is the first time in the history of Namibia for the country to have the highest turnout in terms of voter registration and voting. It is interesting to see many people queuing up to vote. I hope the president-elect will be able to maintain peace and stability, and drive the country into prosperity.
-lnashuuta@gmail.com