City of Windhoek wants Dolam flood victims to move back to their homes

THE Windhoek Municipality says it has offered to clean up and disinfect about 14 homes in Katutura’s Dolam’s location, which were flooded on January 3.

It wants the affected families, who have been housed in the Sam Nujoma Stadium since then, to move back to their homes. However, municipal spokesperson Liz Sibindi says the offer was rejected by the 14 households, who put three demands to the City Council.The flood victims, who have asked the Legal Assistance Centre to represent them, want the City to provide an insurance assessor’s report to determine the value of the damages they suffered.They also want the City to provide the final report of an independent consultant on the cause of the flood.Finally, they want the City to consider the possibility of raising the foundations of houses in the Dolam area to prevent further floods.Sibindi said the City would delay the cleaning of the houses for the time being, but the temporary housing arrangement could not be sustained much longer.The stadium was not built to accommodate a large number of people for a long time, she said.”The current condition of the Sam Nujoma Stadium could pose a danger to the health of the community due to its mechanical ventilation system,” said Sibindi.In response to the community’s demands, she said that people who have insurance on their house contents should secure the services of a private assessor.The assessor’s report done for the Municipality dealt with structural damage to the houses of people with group insurance under their bonds, she said.The independent report on the cause of the flood had not been finalised, Sibindi said.She added that an independent engineer has been instructed to do run-off calculations for the rivers that deliver water to the newly constructed storm-water structures and to determine the adequacy of the installed structures.This, she said, would enable the Municipality to take long-term decisions, if necessary, to safeguard the interests of all parties involved.However, municipal spokesperson Liz Sibindi says the offer was rejected by the 14 households, who put three demands to the City Council.The flood victims, who have asked the Legal Assistance Centre to represent them, want the City to provide an insurance assessor’s report to determine the value of the damages they suffered.They also want the City to provide the final report of an independent consultant on the cause of the flood.Finally, they want the City to consider the possibility of raising the foundations of houses in the Dolam area to prevent further floods.Sibindi said the City would delay the cleaning of the houses for the time being, but the temporary housing arrangement could not be sustained much longer.The stadium was not built to accommodate a large number of people for a long time, she said.”The current condition of the Sam Nujoma Stadium could pose a danger to the health of the community due to its mechanical ventilation system,” said Sibindi.In response to the community’s demands, she said that people who have insurance on their house contents should secure the services of a private assessor.The assessor’s report done for the Municipality dealt with structural damage to the houses of people with group insurance under their bonds, she said.The independent report on the cause of the flood had not been finalised, Sibindi said.She added that an independent engineer has been instructed to do run-off calculations for the rivers that deliver water to the newly constructed storm-water structures and to determine the adequacy of the installed structures.This, she said, would enable the Municipality to take long-term decisions, if necessary, to safeguard the interests of all parties involved.