Anyone who lives in or regularly drives around Windhoek will be familiar with an increasingly unpleasant feature of life in parts of the city: the stench of overflowing sewers and wastewater running along streets, through open spaces and, at times, close to homes.
This is not merely an aesthetic problem.
It raises a more serious question: when sewage repeatedly escapes from the system and remains in places where people live, walk and play, at what point does an inconvenience become a public health hazard?
For those of us who grew up in Katutura, the situation is striking. We certainly had blocked drains.
I remember municipal workers opening manholes and removing plastic bags, newspapers, tins and other objects that had obstructed the system.
But the blockages were attended to, and I do not remember entire neighbourhoods routinely living with the persistent smell of sewage that residents now complain about.
‘OVERLOAD’
The problem is not imaginary.
The City of Windhoek itself has acknowledged recurring sewer blockages, particularly in informal settlements, and has previously warned that overloaded sewer lines, rapid population growth, inappropriate materials flushed into toilets, poorly maintained private drainage access points and vandalised manholes all contribute to blockages.
More recently, the city again raised concern about the increasing number of sewer blockages and reported that workers have removed objects as extraordinary as tyres, nappies, clothing, bricks, car parts and even animal remains from sewer lines.
In one reported case, clearing a long drainage system cost the municipality close to N$700 000.
I have seen the consequences personally.
In parts of Otjomuise, including around 7de and 8ste Laan, and in other parts of Windhoek, sewage can form streams that pedestrians have to avoid or jump across.
Media reports have described similar experiences.
In October 2025, residents of parts of Katutura were so frustrated by persistent sewage problems that some transported sewage to the municipal offices in protest.
FRUSTRATION
That residents resorted to such an extreme protest illustrates the depth of frustration in some communities.
The City of Windhoek responded that its technical teams continuously monitor and attend to reported sewer blockages and overflows.
It is difficult to quantify the problem in terms of the number of blocked or overflowing drains.
However, what is documented is that the city’s contact centre has handled between 16 000 and 20 000 calls a month covering municipal problems such as pipe bursts, sewer blockages, electricity failures and account inquiries.
The City of Windhoek should therefore publish the precise number of sewer blockages or overflowing drains regularly rather than guess at it.
Residents deserve to know how many incidents are reported, how quickly they are attended to, and which areas experience repeated failures.
CONCERNS
Why does this matter? Raw sewage and contaminated wastewater can contain disease-causing microorganisms.
These include the hepatitis E virus, pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella and Shigella species, Vibrio cholerae – the bacterium that causes cholera – and other organisms that cause diarrhoeal diseases.
Exposure does not mean that everyone who encounters an overflow will become ill, but contamination of water, hands, food environments and surfaces creates avoidable routes through which infection may spread.
The concern is greater where sanitation and handwashing facilities are inadequate and where children, older people, pregnant women, newborn babies or medically vulnerable people may be exposed.
- Seth !Nowaseb is a senior lecturer at the University of Namibia, author and public commentator. The views expressed here are his own.
