Julia Kamarenga

Rural-urban migration continues to put pressure on service delivery in many towns as many people search for better living conditions.

Gobabis has received a high influx of people, a situation that increased the demand for municipal services.

To deliver efficient and effective services to residents, the Gobabis municipality has embarked on a process of formalizing the informal settlements, Canaan A, B, and C.

The CEO of the municipality, Sophia Eises, proudly said it is high time that people own land, title deeds and enjoy services such as water and sanitation. Eises also revealed that there is a plan for a secondary school and shopping complex in the areas that are being formalised.

The process, which is a collaboration between the Shack Dwellers Federation, the Namibian Housing Action Group, and the municipality, aims at restoring the dignity of the Namibian people by making them realise the dream of having a proper place to call home.

According to the chairperson of the management committee at the Gobabis municipality, Sylvester Binga, the project started late last year with data capturing and household registrations to ascertain the eligibility of the people in the places, in terms of affordability, for better planning and implementation.

Binga also indicated that one of the challenges they experienced in the process was that the people were reluctant in giving the required information during the data capturing phase.

The chairperson further said to speed up the process, the community residing in the informal settlements were consulted to specify what facilities should be established in which area.

Appreciating the efforts and approach made by the municipality, a resident of Canaan C, Ngeke Kavitjene, welcomed the gesture and applauded the idea of engaging the community on the way forward.

Kavitjene further urged other community members to cooperate to ensure the process runs with no hiccups to avoid delays.