Keetmanshoop on edge

ANGRY Keetmanshoop municipal workers and residents staged two separate protests over huge rent increases of more than 1 000 per cent yesterday.

About 200 municipal workers downed tools and marched from the Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu) offices to the local authority building. Stephanus Jacobs, the shop steward of the workers, presented a petition to the Mayor of Keetmanshoop, Simon Petrus Tiboth.The petition protested the delay in payment of salaries, the suspension of long-service bonuses and free services, and the exorbitant increases in rent.The petition gave the mayor 24 hours to get a response from the Council.Within three hours of the workers’ march, a group of residents met with Karas Regional Governor, Dawid Boois.Their complaints centred on the huge increases in rental fees of municipal houses.The Governor instructed the group not to pay any municipal bills (rent, water and basic charges) until next week.He said he would negotiate with the local council and give the group feedback next Tuesday.Workers and residents living in municipal housing had been paying between N$29 and N$87 per month for their homes.These rents have been increased to N$300 a month by the local authority.The rent increases took effect in August.A municipal worker who had been paying N$29 rent and now pays N$300, faces a 1 034 per cent increase.Residents, including pensioners and single mothers who were paying N$87 and who have to pay N$300, face an increase of 345 per cent.Mayor Tiboth, when interviewed by The Namibian, said he agreed the rent increases were too high.He said he did not know how this action was approved by council.”We realise our mistake and will come up with a new resolution,” he said.Tiboth said he would call an urgent meeting of his Council today to consider the complaints about rent.”We must openly discuss the issue to find a solution,” he said.He added that he would write the union’s regional organiser a letter telling him he would not be able to meet the 24-hour deadline but indicating his actions.”If residents are reluctant to pay (the increased rent), the local authority will have to absorb the loss,” he said.Keetmanshoop Municipality CEO Jerry Shangadi disagreed with the Mayor in a separate interview.”It is for too long that rent increments did not take place,” he said yesterday.”I honestly believe it is ridiculous.Business must be business.This is not a charity organisation.”Shangadi, who has been in the CEO position for about 18 months and was previously town treasurer for four years, said he was not willing to carry the mistakes of the past by not increasing the rent.He said his job required that income be generated.But he did not want to tie the increases in rent to the poor financial shape of the local authority.”The houses must be maintained.Therefore the residents must be charged and the culture (of not wanting to pay for services) must be changed.”Later in the morning, when a group of residents met Governor Boois, some claimed they had lived in the municipal housing for 30 years and had never seen any maintenance being done.Gertrude Booysen, a resident of Tseiblaagte, told the Governor she had been told by a finance clerk, Mrs Apollus, that she (the tenant) was responsible for doing her own maintenance.But Booysen disagreed.”It is the responsibility of the municipality, as I am renting the house,” she said.Bettie Klim, a single mother, said the group had already protested to the Municipality but nothing had been done.”They (the municipality) said that the group was occupying the houses illegally.But we have been in the houses since before Independence,” she said.Klim said she understood that a tariff hike was necessary, but it should be implemented gradually.Stephanus Jacobs, the shop steward of the workers, presented a petition to the Mayor of Keetmanshoop, Simon Petrus Tiboth.The petition protested the delay in payment of salaries, the suspension of long-service bonuses and free services, and the exorbitant increases in rent.The petition gave the mayor 24 hours to get a response from the Council.Within three hours of the workers’ march, a group of residents met with Karas Regional Governor, Dawid Boois.Their complaints centred on the huge increases in rental fees of municipal houses.The Governor instructed the group not to pay any municipal bills (rent, water and basic charges) until next week.He said he would negotiate with the local council and give the group feedback next Tuesday.Workers and residents living in municipal housing had been paying between N$29 and N$87 per month for their homes.These rents have been increased to N$300 a month by the local authority.The rent increases took effect in August.A municipal worker who had been paying N$29 rent and now pays N$300, faces a 1 034 per cent increase.Residents, including pensioners and single mothers who were paying N$87 and who have to pay N$300, face an increase of 345 per cent.Mayor Tiboth, when interviewed by The Namibian, said he agreed the rent increases were too high.He said he did not know how this action was approved by council.”We realise our mistake and will come up with a new resolution,” he said.Tiboth said he would call an urgent meeting of his Council today to consider the complaints about rent.”We must openly discuss the issue to find a solution,” he said.He added that he would write the union’s regional organiser a letter telling him he would not be able to meet the 24-hour deadline but indicating his actions.”If residents are reluctant to pay (the increased rent), the local authority will have to absorb the loss,” he said.Keetmanshoop Municipality CEO Jerry Shangadi disagreed with the Mayor in a separate interview.”It is for too long that rent increments did not take place,” he said yesterday.”I honestly believe it is ridiculous.Business must be business.This is not a charity organisation.” Shangadi, who has been in the CEO position for about 18 months and was previously town treasurer for four years, said he was not willing to carry the mistakes of the past by not increasing the rent.He said his job required that income be generated.But he did not want to tie the increases in rent to the poor financial shape of the local authority.”The houses must be maintained.Therefore the residents must be charged and the culture (of not wanting to pay for services) must be changed.”Later in the morning, when a group of residents met Governor Boois, some claimed they had lived in the municipal housing for 30 years and had never seen any maintenance being done.Gertrude Booysen, a resident of Tseiblaagte, told the Governor she had been told by a finance clerk, Mrs Apollus, that she (the tenant) was responsible for doing her own maintenance.But Booysen disagreed.”It is the responsibility of the municipality, as I am renting the house,” she said.Bettie Klim, a single mother, said the group had already protested to the Municipality but nothing had been done.”They (the municipality) said that the group was occupying the houses illegally.But we have been in the houses since before Independence,” she said.Klim said she understood that a tariff hike was necessary, but it should be implemented gradually.