CAN THE City of Windhoek finally give Katutura and Khomasdal what the colonial administration failed at: freestanding municipalities?
This may seem a bit ironic (given Namibia’s history of separate development), but autonomous municipal authority for Katutura and Khomasdal is not what the colonial administration had in mind when it created the two townships in the 1950s and 1960s.
What they had in mind, instead, is what was referred to as location or lokasie in Afrikaans (a temporary living place for non-white workers, especially migrant workers to supply cheap labour for the economy), which not only was organised into ethnic and racial sections but also marginalized and neglected by the colonial municipality.
Back then, Katutura and Khomasdal (which mostly consisted of a few rental houses and a ‘single quarters’ area of dormitory-type housing) were not even qualified to be referred to as suburbs because suburbs were townships designated for whites only.
But gone are those days and present day Katutura and Khomasdal are very different. Therefore, I see no reason, in this day and age of post-colonial development, why these two suburbs cannot have their own municipal entities.
Here are 10 good reasons why I think de-linking the two townships not only would make economic and administrative sense but also bring badly needed services closer to these neighborhoods.
Topping the list is the reality that the city of Windhoek (and its affluent neighbourhoods) has grown and is still ever-expanding. Cold hard data from the latest census records indicate that the population growth of the two townships is one of the fastest in the country as more and more people from the rural areas who come to the capital tend to settle in them.
As the suburbs in question spread with their large informal settlements and poor neighbourhoods, service delivery and administration become a huge challenge if not a burden. Hence the city of Windhoek’s (in)capacity (due to explosion in population growth) to provide effective and efficient service delivery, makes a compelling case for a second reason.
If the expansion and proliferation in new neighbourhoods is not reason enough, then the historical importance of the two townships should make the third reason for de-linking. Here we are talking about Katutura and Khomasdal as windows into Namibia’s urban development history and politics. Against the backdrop of the national struggle, the two are symbols of Namibia’s resilience, social activism and resistance against the colonial policies.
Granting the two townships municipal status, as a fourth reason, would allow the two townships the opportunity to develop their economic infrastructure, and grow their economies, respectively. Let’s face it, in terms of socioeconomic status, the two have different economies, and almost serve different customers than the current set-up of the city of Windhoek.
De-linking would create jobs, and this undoubtedly is your fifth reason. The two will have their own mayors, municipal police, and other vital administrative offices. Not to mention that they will also have sub-contractors to perform certain essential services. And the list is endless.
The sixth reason comes in the form of competition. Having three municipal entities adjacent to one other is good for business and good for service delivery. Let the best municipality win as they will have to compete for cross-over customers.
It is an open secret that (even with the City of Windhoek’s efforts and good intentions to decentralise services) when it comes to service priority, Katutura and Khomsdal are always afterthoughts.
It is also not by accident that Windhoek, in comparison to the twin sister townships’ shoddy social and physical infrastructure, enjoys all the luxuries of a modern city; exceptionally well-developed infrastructure; well-maintained schools and health care centres; recreational facilities and parks; and financial institutions. Therefore, service delivery definitely makes the seventh argument.
The adage that “all politics is local” forms the eighth reason for freestanding municipal authority. It goes without saying that let local residents who live and have experience with what it looks like to be a Katutura or Khomasdaler be the leaders of their own municipalities.
Nine, there is also a moral argument that how can people who have no idea or experience of what it looks like to be resident in Katutura and Khomasdal be mayors of these impoverished neighborhoods?
Ten, if it took the philosophy of separate development to create Katutura and Khomasdal as locations for second class citizens, let’s go big and undo it. Giving these residents municipalities they would call their own is not only putting democracy into practice but also has the potential for sustainable social, cultural and economic development.
*Ndumba J Kamwanyah is a lecturer at Unam in the department of human sciences. His work examines the intersection between policy and governance. The views expressed are entirely his.
