ONGWEDIVA - Residents of Oshakati East’s informal settlements said they are hungry for services particularly that promote good hygiene.

The residents especially the youth say although they have been voting, much still need to be done in their communities.

There is also an outcry for the scarcity of much-needed jobs and the majority of the young people have since resorted to alcohol to drown their sorrows and subsequently resort to crime. In the same vein, the youth also pleaded for jobs saying that many just idle at home, as there are no jobs available.

Further, there is a plea to promote hygiene, especially because there are children who play around unsupervised.

“We want our environment to be clean, you can see the area is dirty and it is attracting diseases amongst us,” said Petrus Amunyela from Sky location.

 “Some of us come to vote hoping that the new leadership will develop our communities and in return create jobs,” said Albertina Simson. Public Relations Officer at the Oshakati Town Council Katarina Kamari said the council has a waste management team for both its formal and informal settlements. She said council also has plans to develop its informal settlements to ensure that its residents in the informal areas have access to basic services and title deeds for their plots. To fulfill its obligation, council plans to formalise Uupindi South in the 2019/2020 financial year. There are also further plans to survey Oneshila, Okandjengedi and Evululuko in the 2020/2021 financial year. 

The three areas have already been formalised. Just recently, the Oshakati Town Council also relocated the residents from the informal Eemwandi location to Onawa where they have access to basic services. Council also plans to relocate residents of Oshoopala location which after being formalised is earmarked for business plots.

Sky location is also in the council’s agenda to relocate them as they live in a crowded and unhygienic environment.

The Deputy Minister of Urban and Rural Development Derek Klazen recently announced that there is more than 900 000 Namibians living in informal settlements.

He said those in the informal areas are those without or earn a low-income.
He said the high influx of people from rural to urban areas is necessitated by the lack of job opportunities in the rural set up.