Govt’s tenants live without electricity, water for two weeks

Residents in the government flats at Ausspannplatz in Windhoek are going without basic necessities like electricity or functioning showers.

Electricity has been out in the entire building since 6 February, after flooding in the room which houses the building’s electricity meters. Several tenants claim these disruptions started after contractors began installing a new water system in the building.

Apollo Shanyengange, who has lived in one of the flats for about five years, showed The Namibian the flooded room’s entrance; a narrow set of stairs leading down into darkness.

Several men were carrying armfuls of rubbish out, water sloshing up to their calves.

Shanyengange says the water was pumped out of the room the day before, but is flooded again. “Somewhere, somehow, [the contractors] messed up. So now nobody knows where the water is coming from.”

Renovations in the building began in October 2024. Residents report at least four different contractors working on the new water system. The new additions are instantly visible. On one side of the courtyard, pipes are being installed within the structure of the wall. On the other, exposed pipes simply hang on the walls.

“The [other contractors], they put these pipes inside the wall because they feel that the people might come to steal the new pipes. We don’t know about these contractors because this [installation] is different from the other one. So these pipes, they are supposed to be inside the wall. They should be covered but they aren’t,” he says.

Shanyengange says inspectors from the Ministry of Works and Transport are meant to oversee the work but have not been present. The building itself has not had a dedicated caretaker since independence.

Residents have also complained about a lack of clarity regarding construction work within their flats. Shanyengange says that the bathtub in his flat was removed in October of last year, and thus far it has not been replace.

“All the places had a bathtub. Now all the bathtubs are replaced. We were not formally told why that is. They say all the flats here must have only the shower … Now when I’m showering, for months now, I have to use a container,” he says.

Shanyengange has also expressed frustration with the duration of construction in the building, saying work began in October. “First they cut open the holes here, then we wait for about three weeks. They come put the pipes here, we wait for about a week. They come cover the pipes, we wait, up to now,” he says.

Herman Mwanyekange of Moon Trading, a company contracted to remove the water from the room which houses the building’s electricity meters, explains that he has been trying to complete this task for several days now: “There was no water the by time I left the site [yesterday].”

He theorises that the room keeps flooding as a result of the shoddy workmanship of one of the companies contracted to replace the old pipes with a new prepaid system. One possibility is that faulty sealing could be allowing rainwater to seep into the meter room. He also expresses concern about some of the materials used.

“This is a plastic pipe,” he says, pointing to exposed piping sticking out of the ground. “It’s very cheap.”

The works ministry has not responded to these allegations.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.