A ministerial team is currently visiting Namibia’s regions to assess the root causes of regional and local authorities owing NamPower and NamWater for water and electricity services rendered.
Urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni on Wednesday said his ministry was tasked by the Cabinet to form a team comprising the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises.
“This followed the Cabinet directive to NamPower to halt the suspension of electricity to local authorities.
“The government needs to understand why regional and local authorities, as well as the Northern Electricity Distributor (Nored), have these debts based on which the government can design interventions and determine the way forward for all stakeholders involved,” Uutoni said.
NamPower two months ago published a list of regional energy distributors and councils that would be affected by power cuts starting on 5 June if combined outstanding debts of over N$1 billion were not settled.
These include areas under Nored, the //Kharas Regional Council, the Rehoboth Town Council, the Mariental municipality, the Karasburg Town Council, the Gobabis municipality, the Aranos Town Council, and the Maltahöhe Village Council.
Others are the Gibeon, Bethanie, Tses, Koës, Leonardville, Berseba, Kalkrand, Stampriet, Gochas, Witvlei and Aroab village
councils, as well as the City of Windhoek, Groot Aub and Brakwater.
The Cabinet, however, noted constrained economic activity at most local authorities, resulting in the inability of many residents to afford basic goods and services, ageing water and power infrastructure, and illegal connections due to the high rate of urban migration, causing sprawling informal settlements.
This translates into lost revenue for local authorities.
The Cabinet has requested NamPower to halt any power cuts after a thorough assessment.
Mariental municipality chief executive officer Paul Nghiwilepo yesterday said the ministerial team visited their offices.
“What we are finding is that some municipalities are ring-fencing their electricity units.
“They are managed seperately, and this income is not part of the municipality’s budget, so the sale of electricity ends up covering other costs within the council.
“This seems to be the bigger issue that causes debt among the smaller local authorities,” he said.
Reginald Kennedy, the chief executive of the Bethanie Village Council, said they informed the team that the budget villages and settlements receive is insufficient in covering the services councils have to provide.
“The government really needs to increase our subsidy. Our income base is very low, and you can’t apply your debtors’ and creditors’ policies to cut for unpaid services, because at times you experience political interference from your councillors.
“So we informed the team of our challenges,” he said.
The ministerial team is expected to report back after compiling their findings for the Cabinet to determine the way forward for all stakeholders.
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