The Mutjimagumwe Woodwork Cooperative’s school furniture repair project in the Kavango West region is facing material shortages and funding pressure, its chairperson, Johnny Kaleyi, says.
Kaleyi on Tuesday said the project supported by the Kavango West Regional Council started off well but the timber and funds provided are not enough for the volume of work.
“The project started off well. The agreement was that the council buys the timber and then we buy paint, varnish and nails and provide the service,” he said.
He said the council initially provided 180 pieces of timber, which were used up some time ago.
“We informed them but they suggested we use the N$500 000 they paid us, which is not enough,” Kaleyi said.
According to him, most of the N$500 000 has gone to materials, with workers’ wages taking up about N$60 000.
“The N$500 000 is even finishing now from buying the shutter boards and other materials. We are now left with N$95 000 out of the money we have received,” he said.
Kaleyi said they were told they would repair 4 000 chairs, but the written scope lists have 4 975 chairs and desks.
He noted that the cooperative, which currently has 16 employees, is now using timber provided by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, but the process is slow.
Kavango West chief regional officer Matheus Singambwe says the project is a joint initiative of the regional council, the environment ministry through the Namibia Integrated Landscape Approach for Enhancing Livelihoods and Environmental Governance initiative and the education directorate.
“An amount of N$500 000 was allocated by the council from its value-added tax refunds and timber donated by the ministry of environment to the education directorate to repair all broken chairs and desks across all seven education circuits in the region,” he says.
Singambwe further notes that, based on the list received from schools, the project was funded to repair more than 4 000 broken school chairs and desks. He adds that almost all materials and equipment have already been provided and there was no verbal communication.
He says the same money is for labour and basic materials, including shutter boards, and that a bid was awarded to Emyciso Investment CC to supply the boards, with delivery expected yesterday.
“Council is committed to see this project implemented successfully,” Singambwe says. – Nampa
