Massive Council failure turns town into cesspit

“MAKE Okakarara the most effective, well-managed town in the [Otjozondjupa] Region and create a conducive environment for responsive service delivery …”

This extract from the mission statement of the Okakarara Town Council is proudly displayed on the door of every office in the council chambers. Unfortunately, it is a bitter joke in the face of the reality on the ground.All the town’s toilets are unusable, shower taps have been turned off and fridges and stoves stand silent while food rots in the storerooms.These are just some of the myriad of problems that make life a misery for the residents of Okakarara as the town grapples with a month-long water and electricity crises.”For how long are we going to squat behind trees like this … no, this is unacceptable… someone has got to have his ass kicked for this mess,” fumed one man as he emerged from a nearby bush.”It’s terrible, it’s frustrating, it’s unhygienic.The situation is unfortunate but totally unacceptable,” added the Principal of the Okakarara Secondary School, Raphael Tjeripo Kaura, as he showed The Namibian the effects of the crises at the school.Toilet bowls in both the boys, and girls, hostels are full and blocked.Pupils are expected to fetch water with buckets from a temporary tank to flush their toilets, but it seems the majority are reluctant to do this.The school’s kitchen is closed and food is now cooked in two big three-legged pots outside with firewood from neighbouring farms.NamWater and NamPower terminated their services after the Council’s failure to pay a combined bill of N$2,8 million owed to the two State utilities.The hospital is the only institution that has been spared.When The Namibian arrived at the town on Monday evening it was strangely dark and quiet.Dozens of scattered fires burning in some yards were the only sign of life.”Usually, at this time [around 20h00], the streets are abuzz with people – with lots of people, but now with the current blackout they seem to stay at home since few places remain open after sunset,” explained Maria Zaondja, as she sat around the fire with her two sons preparing their supper.The following morning several people braved the chilly weather as they queued at a single tap with a variety of containers to fetch water.The man operating the tap was a tall Council employee.The water is rationed with the elderly paying 50 cents and all other residents paying N$1 for five litres of water.The rest of the residents trek about 10 kilometres a day to ask for water from adjacent cattle posts.”Sometimes we pay car owners to get water for us from these nearby farms.It’s very far, but now I don’t have money so I have to walk there,” a woman, with a little child on her back, who only identified herself as Naomi, lamented as she lowered a 20-litre water container from her head onto the ground.The water and electricity shortages have already forced the town’s vocational training centre to close indefinitely.The secondary school is overwhelmed and pupils are threatening to boycott classes.Businesses are operating at less than a quarter of their normal turn-over.”At the moment we are only selling what we have on our shelves.We can’t buy new stock because we don’t want things to be delivered and then to rot here,” said one owner of a fast-food outlet.And things are getting worse.The Council failed to pay the salaries of its employees for July, and has, for the past several months, not transferred pension, medical aid and tax deductions from staff salaries to the relevant institutions.Mayor Tjatjitirani Kandukira recently told The Namibian that the council did not have a “single blue cent” in its account.And the Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing has vowed that it will not come to its rescue.The Council attributes its financial woes to the over N$6 million owed to it by its service users.The residents blame the Council’s alleged poor billing and debt collection system.The Namibian has learned that the Ministry of Basic Education, for instance, owes the Council about N$168 000 but it has not received its bill for more than five months.NamWater spokesperson John Shigwedha recently claimed that the parastatal had a water pump at Okakarara, which uses electricity from the municipality, but the Council had to be continuously reminded to bill NamWater.”If NamWater always has to remind them to bill us so that we can pay for their services, just imagine how many other service users go unbilled,” Shigwedha added.Yesterday Kandukira conceded that there might be some “shortcomings” on the part of council staff with regards to debt collection.”Though one can’t say with certainty, but some of the money that is said to be owed to us might have actually been paid but our employees did not deduct it from the client’s account,” the Mayor declared.Kandukira and the Town Clerk, Abiud Kandinda, have been in Windhoek since last week trying to solicit funds from various Ministries and institutions.”We have not made much progress.The situation remains just the same, our accountant is now trying to reconcile our books to check who exactly owes us what,” Kandukira said.He revealed to The Namibian that a meeting between councillors and workers’ representatives was convened at Okakarara on Wednesday late afternoon and it was agreed that the little money that had been raised would be used to pay workers’ salaries, instead of the N$120 000 instalment demanded by NamPower.”We just have to tell NamPower that we can’t afford [to pay the] at this stage because the money is not enough,” he added.Unfortunately, it is a bitter joke in the face of the reality on the ground.All the town’s toilets are unusable, shower taps have been turned off and fridges and stoves stand silent while food rots in the storerooms.These are just some of the myriad of problems that make life a misery for the residents of Okakarara as the town grapples with a month-long water and electricity crises.”For how long are we going to squat behind trees like this … no, this is unacceptable… someone has got to have his ass kicked for this mess,” fumed one man as he emerged from a nearby bush.”It’s terrible, it’s frustrating, it’s unhygienic.The situation is unfortunate but totally unacceptable,” added the Principal of the Okakarara Secondary School, Raphael Tjeripo Kaura, as he showed The Namibian the effects of the crises at the school.Toilet bowls in both the boys, and girls, hostels are full and blocked.Pupils are expected to fetch water with buckets from a temporary tank to flush their toilets, but it seems the majority are reluctant to do this.The school’s kitchen is closed and food is now cooked in two big three-legged pots outside with firewood from neighbouring farms.NamWater and NamPower terminated their services after the Council’s failure to pay a combined bill of N$2,8 million owed to the two State utilities.The hospital is the only institution that has been spared.When The Namibian arrived at the town on Monday evening it was strangely dark and quiet.Dozens of scattered fires burning in some yards were the only sign of life.”Usually, at this time [around 20h00], the streets are abuzz with people – with lots of people, but now with the current blackout they seem to stay at home since few places remain open after sunset,” explained Maria Zaondja, as she sat around the fire with her two sons preparing their supper.The following morning several people braved the chilly weather as they queued at a single tap with a variety of containers to fetch water.The man operating the tap was a tall Council employee.The water is rationed with the elderly paying 50 cents and all other residents paying N$1 for five litres of water.The rest of the residents trek about 10 kilometres a day to ask for water from adjacent cattle posts.”Sometimes we pay car owners to get water for us from these nearby farms.It’s very far, but now I don’t have money so I have to walk there,” a woman, with a little child on her back, who only identified herself as Naomi, lamented as she lowered a 20-litre water container from her head onto the ground.The water and electricity shortages have already forced the town’s vocational training centre to close indefinitely.The secondary school is overwhelmed and pupils are threatening to boycott classes.Businesses are operating at less than a quarter of their normal turn-over.”At the moment we are only selling what we have on our shelves.We can’t buy new stock because we don’t want things to be delivered and then to rot here,” said one owner of a fast-food outlet.And things are getting worse.The Council failed to pay the salaries of its employees for July, and has, for the past several months, not transferred pension, medical aid and tax deductions from staff salaries to the relevant institutions.Mayor Tjatjitirani Kandukira recently told The Namibian that the council did not have a “single blue cent” in its account.And the Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing has vowed that it will not come to its rescue.The Council attributes its financial woes to the over N$6 million owed to it by its service users.The residents blame the Council’s alleged poor billing and debt collection system.The Namibian has learned that the Ministry of Basic Education, for instance, owes the Council about N$168 000 but it has not received its bill for more than five months.NamWater spokesperson John Shigwedha recently claimed that the parastatal had a water pump at Okakarara, which uses electricity from the municipality, but the Council had to be continuously reminded to bill NamWater.”If NamWater always has to remind them to bill us so that we can pay for their services, just imagine how many other service users go unbilled,” Shigwedha added.Yesterday Kandukira conceded that there might be some “shortcomings” on the part of council staff with regards to debt collection.”Though one can’t say with certainty, but some of the money that is said to be owed to us might have actually been paid but our employees did not deduct it from the client’s account,” the Mayor declared.Kandukira and the Town Clerk, Abiud Kandinda, have been in Windhoek since last week trying to solicit funds from various Ministries and institutions.”We have not made much progress.The situation remains just the same, our accountant is now trying to reconcile our books to check who exactly owes us what,” Kandukira said.He revealed to The Namibian that a meeting between councillors and workers’ representatives was convened at Okakarara on Wednesday late afternoon and it was agreed that the little money that had been raised would be used to pay workers’ salaries, instead of the N$120 000 instalment demanded by NamPower.”We just have to tell NamPower that we can’t afford [to pay the] at this stage because the money is not enough,” he added.