WINDHOEK – The Oshakati Town Council says it is finding it hard to encourage a culture of public decency, as many people still urinate in public.
Spokesperson of the Oshakati Town Council, Jackson Muma told New Era this week that residents cite the lack of public toilets as an excuse to engage in this shameful practice.
“However, we have public toilets at every complex and at every public place in Oshakati,” said Muma.
Apart from grown-up men relieving themselves in public, Muma said the occasional presence of cattle, goats and other animals has always been a challenge for the municipality.
“We engaged our community intensively to educate them about the unfavourable conditions created by animals. Council recently removed pigsties which were found in informal settlements and we will continue until all pigsties are completely removed in the whole town,” he said.
The town council is encouraging communities, schools, businesses and institutions to maintain good hygiene standards by awarding the cleanest facilities with trophies.
“The town council has a continuous cleaning campaign under which car wrecks and old materials are taken to the dumping site and we have various educational programmes that aim to educate the residents on how to keep their places clean,” said Muma.
Oshakati Town Council spends N$63 000 monthly to maintain the cleanliness of the town, he said.
Generally, the Oshakati Town Council is content with the state of cleanliness of the town.
But, Muma was quick to point out that much remains to be done in order to maintain cleanliness of the fast-growing town.
“Some parts of the town are very encouraging because the public is meeting the town council half way and there is a considerable degree of individual hygiene and that of the town in general,” said Muma.
“We observed improvements in some parts of the town, as some businesses are interlocking the space surrounding their premises. Some businesses are planting trees while some households have made it a habit to clean their yards every weekend,” he stated.