Walvis Bay Mayor, Trevino Forbes has cautioned the new homeowners of Otweya to refrain from constructing illegal structures and brewing tombo (traditional beer) at their newly acquired erven.

The mayor was commenting to recent incidents where some home owners at Otweya were reported to have erected backyard shacks for businesses and other activities, despite the council and President Hage Geingob’s plea while handing over the houses in September this year.

“This is rather disappointing and totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated by Council. These activities not only devalue the houses in the surrounding areas but also promote criminal activities as already experienced in the past week,” Forbes said.

He encouraged the Otweya residents to all live in harmony with each other and uphold the value of their newly acquired homes with utmost pride.

About 150 families were relocated last week to the new homes after spending over a year in tents, following a fire that destroyed their shacks in the Twaloloka informal settlement last year.

The new houses were constructed under the disaster risk management unit of the Office of the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, Walvis Bay Rural Constituency Councillor Tegako Donatus said residents and homeowners need to be educated on what they are allowed and what they are not allowed to do.

From the police, Erongo Community Policing Commander, Inspector Ileni Shapumba in an interview with Nampa called on residents who have concrete structured houses to avoid erecting shacks at these houses.

“We should all try by all means to reduce conditions which contribute to fires. We are all concerned about the increase of fires and most of the fires we have had at Walvis Bay and Swakopmund came from shacks and they burn down houses,” Shapumba noted.

He called on the residents to re-evaluate these decisions and avoid contributing to the social issue of resident fires.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency