Disgruntled residents of Okahandja’s informal settlements on Monday handed over a petition to Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, urging him to heed their cry for land and municipal services.

Reading the petition on behalf of the group, Sethy Gariseb stressed that residents of the town’s informal settlements have had enough of the local authority’s lack of municipal services which they have been promised over the years.

‘We are tired of writing letters to the municipality, hence we are resorting our cry to the line minister. We are crying for fundamental human rights and access to affordable essential services. The streets are dark, our children are being raped,’ Gariseb said.

He noted that the group submitted the same petition in July 2022, however to date, they continue to lack water, electricity and all other basic municipal services in the informal settlements.

The petition further demands that the relevant authorities clarify who is entitled to own a piece of land and who qualifies for municipal services.

‘If we are occupying land illegally please indicate which part of Okahandja we can settle on with our families,’ he read.

Uutoni meanwhile said there is a need for the local authority to hold meetings regularly with the community to discuss matters concerning the inhabitants and collectively find solutions.

He noted that about 20 erven have been identified to cater for some of the land issues at the town, adding that the municipality has entered into an agreement with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) final year students studying towards land administration to help design and demarcate informal settlements.

‘Land delivery is council’s sole mandate to ensure that land is allocated to each resident. Nobody is against the residents getting land. The municipality is very slow and there is a need to speed up operations,’ he noted.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency