With more than 25 000 inhabitants, Outjo in the Kunene region continues to be a ray of hope among locals as it beams potential in not only tourism, but sport and a hub for industrial revolutions that can contribute to a thriving economy.
Paheja Siririka (PS) engaged acting CEO Jaco Labuschagne (JL) on the town’s developments touching on leadership structure, especially after the retirement of the CEO who served for 20 years, among other things.
PS: How does the leadership structure of Outjo look like at the moment?
JL: I am currently acting in the office of the CEO. I am the strategic executive for health and technical services but since our CEO went on pension, we are still busy sourcing for a new CEO at this moment. I am closely working on a rotational style of leadership with the head of finance Immanuel Tjipura. Since last year, we have each been serving six months. He acts for six months and then I take over. So that is the current structure.
PS: Outjo was accused of “cooking” CEO criteria to accommodate “comrades”. Brief us on those allegations.
JL: They are in the final phase of appointing a new CEO. What happened in the past is not true. What usually happens is that the HR office contacts other municipalities, “Can you give us examples of what your CEO appointments look like? What references there are to the criteria to appoint a CEO?” That is what happened, people went to the Ombudsman because they thought someone was targeted to become the CEO, which is not the truth. Now with the help of the minister’s office, they put up a new advert, so I believe within the next few months we will have an answer regarding the new CEO.
PS: What are the prominent development projects that have been taking place in the town?
JL: Development isn’t a thing that you can measure in a year. It comes from way back.
However, the latest development that we had is the measuring and servicing of plots. We have the Urip extension on the Otavi Road on your right-hand side. We saw a need for housing. Most of the land that people want and need is an erf, not farms. Not everyone is a farmer, but most of the people need land. So we did 800 erven with the Urip extension and we are busy with 2000 to be set out, surveyed and serviced through the Land Tenure Act of the government so that then everyone can get a certificate of occupation, and people can start with the construction of their homes. This is basically to take people out of the informal settlement, out of a shack that’s made up of corrugated roof sheets. We want to put them in proper houses.
PS: How many informal settlements are in Outjo?
JL: We have 7de Laan, Camp 5, Ehangano, Kap En Bou, Soweto. The informal settlements are about 3 000 erven now at the moment. Etoshapoort was also part of the informal settlement but now it has levelled up. Additionally, Cenored is busy electrifying parts of the informal settlements.
PS: How is land servicing in your town? Are you making steady progress?
JL: We have private companies assisting with excavations because one of the real struggles that we have is the underfoot, this crystallised limestone. It’s not easy to excavate. Even if you want to plant a tree, you must dynamite. It’s not easy. It’s not like in the north or anywhere else where you can just excavate. We have to use a private contractor who is a previous employee of us that is doing our excavations with dynamite, literally with explosives to dig the trenches and it’s very expensive. We had a project that started to bring water and electricity to part of the informal settlement. The project started at N$4 million and it ended up at N$30 million. We had to ask for additional funding for that.
PS: You mentioned the excavation process as a task hampering development in your town. What else stands out that you feel is difficult to navigate around?
JL: The other issue in Outjo is the influx of people especially from the charcoal industry. Additionally, there are a lot of people coming in from other areas. They also come with their families and you tend to sit with people without jobs, children that need to go to school and all that. Social issues that come with that. The more they come in for work, the more poverty you get and that’s the downside of things.
PS: Poverty is known to attract crime. Tell us about the crime rate in this town.
JL: The municipality of Outjo has a very good relationship with the police but the town currently has the highest crime rate. This is due to the influx of people. Our neighbourhood watch is also doing great.
You still get your high-end crime at the end of the month because of alcohol and drug abuse which adds up to the crime rate.
Occasionally, you get offenders from outside town who commit sophisticated offences such as stealing jewellery, and other serious crime because they are armed. The most common crimes committed here are stock theft, poaching, and housebreaking.
PS: What can you tell us about the health situation in your district?
JL: Since we are in the Kunene, this has got more to do with traditional, values and customs and one cannot go past those.
It is very difficult for healthcare workers to change the mindsets of headmen or community members regarding traditions. In town, the problem is poverty and alcohol use.
People are tired of hearing about HIV. People spreading false information that it is presumably better to have HIV than high blood pressure for example doesn’t make things easy.