Maihapa Ndjavera & Paheja Siririka

WITVLEI - Members of the Voice of the Voiceless marched to the Witvlei Village Council to protest against poor service delivery.
 Among the grievances is the general cleanliness of the village and dysfunctional streetlights, which pose danger to residents.

The group’s chairperson Gideon //Hoebeb said the general cleanliness of the village is still a concern despite the engagement of a private contractor, adding that the community wanted to know whether there was a tender issued for the engagement of the contractor.

He also mentioned in the petition that several lights are out of order and some areas are completely in the dark. 
“The three or four test solar lights placed in certain areas of the village are ineffective and a waste of money,” he said.
Another member of the group, John Tjirare told New Era that the dissatisfaction of the Witvlei residents dates back. 
“People are not happy, there is no development here, and crime is on the increase. For example, a week ago, a young lady was murdered here and we held a demonstration against such barbaric acts, and then we have the abattoir which has been closed for about five years now, unemployment is high and that coincides with poverty,” he said.
He explained that the demonstration against the village council was perpetuated because of management and numerous irregularities at the village. 

“We started this grievance in June 2020 with the village council. We engaged with them on the stated issues in Witvlei and we were not successful in getting answers from them on issues we raised. 
We spoke to the governor also, constituency councillor and other relevant institutions and that is the reason we decided to have the demonstration, mainly because of not getting a response from other relevant stakeholders apart from the village council,” stated Tjirare.

//Hoebeb also informed that the group on 16 June 2020 held a meeting with the council to raise most of the grievances.
 Among them, the group chairperson stated that the council was not able to provide answers to all their questions especially with the failure of projects in the village.
In the meeting, the group demanded for electricity distributor Cenored to provide services at the village. Though electricity services will come with an additional cost, //Hoebeb believe the benefits in terms of infrastructure development and vending facilities will outweigh the extra cost.

In response, the council said residents are already complaining about high tariffs and as the council, they are mindful of the plight of the people in the village. 
The secretary of the village council, Hendrik Muisoor, received the petition and did not comment on the petition, but informed New Era they would revert to questions posted by the publication by today.
mndjavera@nepc.com.na