OSHAKATI – Oshakati residents, who were relocated to Ehenye after their houses were flooded, are in dire need of food since the Covid-19 lockdown was announced, Oshakati East constituency councillor Abner Shikongo has said.
Shikongo made the remarks while receiving 100 bags of maize meal donated by the Spar Group of Companies on Thursday.
He said the lockdown has made survival more difficult for the 365 households with a combined 700 individuals, who are now housed in tents erected at Ehenye since February. Shikongo said most of the residents survive by doing business on the street or selling kapana.
“The lockdown, which limits, among others, street vending and resulted in the closure of the Oshakati open market where they used to sell kapana and other basic items, has left them without an income,” Shikongo explained.
Therefore, they are no longer able to buy food on their own. “This Spar donation of bags of maize came at the right time when the Oshakati Town Council is struggling to feed these flood-affected residents of our town,” stated the town’s mayor Angelus Iiyambo, who also spoke at the event.
Iiyambo promised that his council is going to distribute the bags accordingly, while at the same time urged other companies to emulate the gesture by also donating food to the flood victims.
The residents are relocated from Oshoopala, Oneshila and Uupindi settlements, where many houses were flooded following the good rains received in northern Namibia this year.
– Nampa