At the monthly meeting of the Windhoek City Council this week, what is called the Assistance to Designated Households Policy, was tabled in accordance with the City's vision to "improve the quality of the lives of all our people".

The policy is designed to apply only to formal settlements, rather than informal settlements.

In the opinion of the Municipality, the informal settlements, and those which could probably be described as the most needy, already benefit from subsidised charges.

This draft policy, which still needs to be approved by the Ministry of Local, Regional Government and Housing, is expected to be a very costly one; and whereas this newspaper is always in favour of initiatives to alleviate the burden of the poor and most needy people in our country, we would propose caution and thorough interrogation of this proposal before it is put into practice.

In essence "the outstanding debt of those who qualify under the City Assistance to Designated Households Policy, be written off as a once-off exercise and that the provisions of the City of Windhoek Debt Management policy apply should debtors falling in the category of designated households fall in arrears".

Once financial support is received from stakeholders, among others, the Ministry itself, the Khomas Regional Council, NamPower, NamWater, then "a monthly rebate amount per qualifying household be determined".

The City said its main aim is to provide relief to those who qualify for assistance in terms of the provisions of the policy, and while it was expected to be costly, "will no doubt go a long way in solving the high outstanding debt resulting from defaulting service accounts".

Designated households, they add, are defined as "pensioners and welfare cases which receive a monthly pension from the Ministry of Health and Social Services, i.e.

residents older than 60 years and people with disabilities".

Designated groups which need assistance will have to register to qualify for this measure, and the support will last only for the duration of one financial year and under specific conditions.

The Mayor, Matheus Shikongo, had the following to say of the plan: "Alleviation of poverty, if not its eradication, remains the central goal of local government and underlies the work we do in our Council".

However, the City could not do it alone, he added, unless other partners, such as the abovementioned, were able to make the policy sustainable.

As the world feels the pinch of skyrocketing food prices and fuel costs, among others, there is little doubt that it is the already poor and unemployed who will be worst hit.

We therefore believe that it is essential that the country become innovative in the ways and means it can extend assistance to those most in need.

But any measures that are considered (and we still maintain that removal of VAT from certain essential foodstuffs would be one way to go) need to be thoroughly examined beforehand so that there is no risk that the greedy and unscrupulous in our communities will benefit more than those who need help the most.

Lists of those who register as beneficiaries should be laid open for public scrutiny and the policy must be implemented in a transparent manner, also to ensure it it does not create dependency on the part of those benefiting.

Applicants must be scrutinised closely, and it stands to reason that those who have employment and own their homes, among others, cannot be described as the most needy in our society.

The high price of living is making its mark, to lesser or greater degree, on all Namibians except perhaps the most wealthy, and we must ensure that such measures are designed to assist those who have little or nothing to make life a bit easier for them.

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