By Magreth Nunuhe
WINDHOEK – Windhoek residents owe the City of Windhoek (CoW) over N$500 million for municipal services such as electricity, water, refuse removal, sanitation and rates and taxes, which the municipality says could cripple its cash position and ability to fulfil its statutory mandate.
“Consumer debts can reduce the finance needed for the delivery of basic services, infrastructure, maintenance and upgrading,” Joshua Amukugo, the Windhoek Municipality’s public relations manager told a media briefing on Wednesday. He was commenting on late payments and debts deemed irrecoverable.
Amukugo said the enormous debt could prompt the need for greater cross-subsidization as it overburdens the existing tax base.
He said the municipality would embark on a concerted and vigorous effort to reduce the debt as a matter of urgency as from February 28 and he urged residential, business and government institution customers to pay their municipal bills on time.
On the water situation he echoed NamWater’s view that if it does not rain at all in the next year and a half, water reserves in the central areas of Namibia, including Windhoek, could dry up.
“With the low rainfall experienced in the central areas of Namibia in the current rainy season, the supply levels in the relevant dams are precariously low,” he pointed out.
Amukugo urged Windhoek residents to save water by cutting or omitting non-essential water activities such as irrigation of gardens, washing vehicles with a hosepipe, filling up swimming pools and strive to reduce water consumption by 10 percent.
When it comes to security, Amukugo said that since the municipality introduced the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at certain sites in the city, they have seen a major reduction of up to 80 percent in crime related to property, such as theft of, and out of, motor vehicles; armed robbery, bag snatching, ATM fraud, drinking in public as well as sex workers seducing clients along the streets.
The sites where CCTV cameras are installed are the Post Street Mall, Independence Avenue at Bushman Art, Ausspannplatz, Eros Post Office, Eveline Street, Hofmeyer walking trail (Lover’s Hill), the central business district (CBD) and at shopping centres around the capital.
He dismissed media reports that the cameras were out of order but said malfunctions were sometimes experienced, adding that their team is however capable of dealing with any situation.
“It should thus be on record and noted that the allegations in the article as (it) appeared in one of the local English daily newspapers as earlier alluded to – are not only aimed at tarnishing the good name and reputation of the City of Windhoek in general and that of the City Police in particular, but also written by non-patriotic, insensitive and inconsiderate reporters,” Amukugo lashed out.
The municipality’s manager for costing and budgeting, George Esterhuizen, said they have not yet taken a decision on whether they would re-auction, issue out a tender or sell the nine erven that were cancelled after a public auction took place last year on October 16.
Furthermore, he said although Windhoek has extended its borders by 30 kilometres in all directions, it does not mean that land shortage problems have been resolved, as the city does not automatically own land.
“The land still remains in the hands of owners and the municipality can only acquire the land by purchasing it from owners,” he said.