Mayor says Govt failed Windhoek after ‘dirtiest city’ label

Windhoek mayor Ndeshihafela Larandja has slammed urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa for describing the capital as “the dirtiest city in Africa”.

Sankwasa’s remarks were made at the official opening of Oshikuku Annual Trade Fair last week.

Speaking to The Namibian on Friday, Larandja accused the minister of unfairly targeting the city’s leadership.

She said the minister’s comments are not only misleading but serve as a distraction from the government’s own failure to support Windhoek’s development.

“Windhoek, being the dirtiest city in Africa, is only seen this year. After 35 years, when we lost the title in 2014.

Now, suddenly, Windhoek is the dirtiest.

“It’s campaign time, and we know which newspapers they are working with to tarnish this leadership.

This is unacceptable,” she said.

Larandja pointed to a lack of decentralisation and poor funding as key reasons for the city’s current challenges.

“Windhoek is declared the seat of the government.

What is the government doing to support it? We are not appropriated by the government.

We are on our own,” said Larandja, adding that residents from all corners of the country continue to migrate to the capital in search of services that should be available regionally.

The mayor also criticised the Road Fund Administration (RFA) for allegedly failing to release sufficient funds for road maintenance, despite directives to do so.

“They are taking money, but they are not giving us enough to fix our roads,” she said.

“Ask the minister when we lose this title of Windhoek being the cleanest town in Africa, what is the government doing to assist and what is the government doing to the seat of the government.

What are they doing?”
Speaking at Oshikuku last week, Sankwasa said: “Windhoek at the moment has become the dirtiest city in Africa. It has more potholes than other local authorities,” he said.

The minister noted that when people inquire why basic services are not delivered, the standard response is that “there is no budget, there is no money.”

“To clean the city, to clean local authorities, to address unemployment, there is no money. But when it comes to sport, suddenly there are funds,” he said.

Sankwasa questioned the local authorities’ priorities.

“I am wondering where the priority should be. Is it better to travel, return to a dirty city or come back to towns full of potholes? Or should the priority be improving services for the residents of this country?” he asked.

He said this was the reason he opposed local authority councillors travelling to Lesotho for sporting events, stressing that municipalities should first “put their house in order”.

“If a particular political party considers sport a priority, then it must convince Namibians that this is what they voted for, that they campaigned to prioritise sport and entertainment instead of delivering proper services to residents,” Sankwasa added.

RFA chief executive Ali Ipinge did not respond to questions sent to him on Friday and yesterday, nor did Sankwasa.

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