Floods spark hunger claims

FLOOD victims relocated to centres at Oshoopala, Oshakati and Omungwelume say they haven’t received food since February.

Those at Oshoopala and the Ekuku tents at Oshakati, told The Namibian that they cannot earn money at the relocation camps and can’t afford to buy food. ‘Our Town Council and the Government are doing nothing about the situation although we have sent our representatives there and even wrote letters to them. Nothing is being done and we are hungry,’ they said.Approached for comment, Oshakati Mayor Katrina Shimbulu said the municipality is aware of the problem and food will be distributed this week.’We were investigating whether those who are at the tents are all people from Oshakati or not, before we give them food,’ she said.Businesspeople at Oshakati are also complaining that the food they have donated has not reached the people at the tent camp.Eunike Hamutoko, the head of the Omungwelume flood victims’ centre in Ohangwena, told The Namibian over the weekend that people are going hungry there.There are 71 people at the Omungwelume centre and they have only received food once since being relocated there in February, Hamutoko said.All the people have lost their mahangu crops and stockpiles in the flood, she said.According to Hamutoko, a few latrines were set up near the tents, but no pits were dug.’Those people who brought them just put them there and left. We cannot use them, since there are no holes inside them,’ she said.