NOORDOEWER settlement, on the banks of the Orange River, marks an entry point into Namibia which risks becoming an environmental health hazard if uncollected waste dumped at various spots is not properly discarded of.
There are no demarcated waste sites, and residents end up dumping their waste next to the main road.
Phillip Jones, a resident at Noordoewer, says it takes up to three weeks before household waste is removed by the settlement office, which results in the waste being blown all over the place. Jones says manhole drains are also not being pumped.
“We had a sewerage truck which went for repairs to Keetmanshoop two years ago as the pump on the truck was damaged. That truck has never returned,” says Jones.
Resident Angeline van Wyk says for the past 30 years those living in the more informal areas of the settlement have had no toilet facilities, resulting in people using pit latrines or the bushes next to the road to relieve themselves.
“People have made pit toilets in their yards which results in the whole location becoming a stink bomb,” says Van Wyk.
Most of the residents at the settlement live in houses built from reeds, with many questioning whether their houses need to burn down before proper housing will be provided for them, as was the case with the Twaloloka residents at Walvis Bay.
Resident Willem Boois says the town’s people are unhappy that 900 erven were given to a property developer by the //Kharas Regional Council to construct houses. He believes these houses will be unaffordable and points out that they are excluded from government programmes such as Build Together.
“There is no way our people will qualify for houses under any developer. They are seasonal workers with a very small salary,” says Boois.
Furthermore the settlement is a collage of incomplete government buildings, and sewerage and water reticulation networks which are now vandalised white elephants.
Community activist Willem Oliphant says the residents of Noordoewer do not know what development is as there are reportedly no government projects that can uplift the living standards of the people.
“Noordoewer is a big mess. We want the government to come and investigate this settlement and see whether these are the living conditions they want for their people. Is there no money allocated for the development of this place or what is happening to the money?” Oliphant says.
Noordoewer settlement administrative manager Alfred Muhoro declined to comment on the issues raised and referred The Namibian to the constituency councillor, who also declined to comment. Councillor for the Karasberg West constituency, Taimy Kanyemba, says the residents were given government drums to collect their waste and bring it to the settlement office, however the office does not accept waste from residents who do not have such drums.
Kanyemba says the Build Together programme is available to residents of the settlement, however, the previous houses built were distributed to people in higher income brackets and not those it was intended for. She noted that 20 toilets were built for the elderly and they are planning to add another 20 next year.
“My office is currently busy investigating why these houses were wrongly distributed, including the erven which were given to the developer as I want to get to the root of these issues. But communication and getting documents from the settlement office is a serious problem,” says Kanyemba. She says that her office is busy arranging a clean-up campaign at the settlement as it does not look good.
