Crumbling hotel claims life at Okahandja

AN abandoned hotel building at Okahandja claimed the life of a passer-by when she was struck by a piece of metal sheeting that had broken loose from the building yesterday.

An Okahandja businessman who spoke to The Namibian yesterday charged that residents of the town have been complaining in vain for years over the hazard posed by the crumbling building of the former Okahandja Hotel on the town’s main street.Around midday yesterday, fears about the safety of the building came true when a woman who was walking past the boarded-up hotel was struck by a metal sheet that had been blown off the building. She was killed.The Police identified the victim as Maria Nekongo (53). She was a resident of Okahandja and was working at the office of the Okahandja Regional Councillor, the Chief Executive Officer of the Okahandja Municipality, Regina Alugodhi, said late yesterday.Alugodhi said Nekongo’s death was ‘very sad for us as a council and a community’.She said a strong wind had blown some roof sheets off the old hotel shortly before lunchtime. Nekongo was near the building when another gust of wind blew off roof sheets that were already loose by then, with this material hitting her on the head.Alugodhi said she has not received complaints in writing about the safety of the building. She said the building has for the past three years been in the care of the Ministry of Youth, which has started renovating it to change it into a multi-purpose centre.