Shoki Kandjimi
RUNDU - The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade in the Kavango East handed over 41 000 face masks meant for pensioners, vulnerable children and marginalised communities in the region on Monday.
The face masks, which are worth over N$500 000, were donated to beneficiaries in compliance with the state of emergency Covid-19 regulations.
The trade ministry in Kavango East for the past few months has been collaborating with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to produce locally made face masks for the beneficiaries in the region.
Six tailors in Rundu were tasked to produce reusable masks for both adults and children.
Accepting the donation on behalf of the recipients, Kavango East governor Bonifatius Wakudumo welcomed the donation and expressed his gratitude towards the ministry for assisting the less fortunate. “I would like to thank the ministry of trade for its generous gesture of donating reusable face masks to pensioners and the marginalised communities. This will assist the vulnerable communities in adhering to the state of emergency regulations necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Wakudumo said. He also commended the ministry for making use of local tailors to produce the face masks.
Over 27 000 of the 41 000 masks donated were produced by local tailors in the region.
The remaining face masks were procured from Windhoek.
According to the ministry, this was a way of assisting SMEs impacted negatively by the Covid-19 pandemic. Wakudumo further warned the recipients of this donation from misusing the masks and to rather utilise it for its intended purpose.
The masks will be distributed in all six constituencies in the region based on the statistics provided to the ministry by the department of poverty eradication and social welfare in the Office of the Vice President.
Elise Uusiku, the chief economist in the ministry of trade, said 1 000 masks will also be donated to the directorate of health in the Kavango East for distribution at hospitals, clinics and health centres in the region.