IPC pushes for council-owned brickmaking factory

OSHAKATI Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) councillors are continuing their push for the establishment of a brickmaking factory that would be fully owned by the town council.

The IPC councillors further propose that the council pass a resolution to restrict private business entities from competing with the council’s brickmaking factory once the project becomes viable.

This motion was initially proposed during an ordinary council meeting on 25 March, but it is still under scrutiny by the management committee and came up for discussion again last week.

IPC councillor Jerobeam Ndaamohamba said in his proposal letter that the brickmaking factory would assist with housing delivery.

He said to overcome housing challenges would require having bricks made available through a brickmaking factory that is fully owned by the council.

“The factory can also create employment for our local communities,” he said.

Ndaamohamba said many communities have been excluded from accessing formal housing due to low income, unemployment and the high cost of building materials such as bricks.

“Therefore, the brick factory will create more job opportunities for our local communities. The council should consult or partner with vocational training centres on brickmaking … The Development Workshop of Namibia (DWN) will also assist to offer training on brickmaking,” he said.

IPC councillor Martha Tulonga Imene seconded the motion, saying that once it has been passed, the council should not allow individual business entities to compete with it in terms of brickmaking.

The IPC councillors want the council to be the only entity manufacturing bricks at the town and said that all other brickmaking projects should be banned from competing and have their businesses closed.

Swapo councillor Hofni Mutota opposed the motion during a council meeting held last week, saying it is not advisable for the council to approve a motion which limits competition and local investment, and that curtails local economic development.

He said the management committee had not yet discussed the financial implications of the brickmaking project.

“Therefore, it would be premature to assume that this project will be implemented as a commercially viable entity or whether it will be implemented as a community project to cater for low-cost housing schemes by the council,” he said.

Mutota added that local authorities in Namibia are established to provide services and create a conducive local economic environment for investment and a competitive economy.

He added that brickmaking is not a core mandate of the council, thus the private sector may invest in such a venture.

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