David Adetona

Khomas governor Laura McLeod-Katjirua officially handed over a new N$280 000 two-bedroom house to the family who lost all their properties after a fire destroyed their corrugated iron shack eight years ago.

“The achievements of this nature must inspire us to join forces and do more as governing agents, social partners and fellow sympathetic Namibians to instil a caring culture to look to the plight of homeless people in our communities,” said the governor at the recent official handing over of the new house in Katutura.

In particular, she emphasised particularly that the obligation of housing provision to the people is still far from over because the family of Timoteus Shaningi is still one citizen among the hundreds of displaced and homeless citizens of the Khomas region.

She further pointed out that her office managed to secure plot 331 at Okuryangava in Onyati Street in Tobias Hainyeko constituency to give to Shaningi’s family and to secure the amount of N$280 000 for the construction of the house.

The governor explained that “the sympathetic Ashlee Groenewald Four Walls properties developers offered construction services, completed the levelling and compacted the plot with their own manpower and equipment to the tune of N$100 000 free of charge as their contribution to the building of the new house”.

The construction company also offered to do the drawing, develop the  building plan and construct the house for the amount of N$280 000 to its final completion without any extra cost of labour and equipment.

The thankful beneficiary, Shaningi, an elderly resident of Windhoek, acknowledged the value of the governor and her office, Khomas Regional Council and the City of Windhoek’s assistance and support in building an affordable new home with decent sanitation for him and his family.

Deputy mayor of Windhoek Joseph Uapingene said that the resources are scarce and there is a challenge in terms of delivering serviced land to cater for everyone.

“The Khomas Regional Council and the City of Windhoek remain committed to seeking opportunities and funding to assist vulnerable residents. 

“The number of vulnerable people and social welfare cases grow daily. Therefore, it is imperative that significant strides are made in the speedy delivery of land through joint efforts with our development partners,” said the deputy mayor.