Okahandja power lines falling on houses

Electricity power lines and poles at Okahandja’s Nauaib area are positioned too close to homes, creating safety concerns for the residents.

The infrastructure was installed before independence and needs urgent replacement.

Community leader Sethy Gariseb of the Okahandja Concerned Group says residents have been reporting the problem to the electricity supply company Central Northern Regional Electricity Distributor (Cenored) for the past five years but the problem persists.

“The poles are between the houses, and because of the ageing infrastructure that was installed decades ago on top of our houses, residents are concerned. You can see that the modern way of arranging electrical supply is by underground wiring, which is much safer,” he adds.

Gariseb says urgent assessments and removals are needed to prevent possible deaths, adding that children are especially at risk.

“It is not acceptable that it is not budgeted for because we have been raising this concern for a long time. The Okahandja municipality and Cenored together have the capacity to attend to this risky issue,” he says.

Another activist, Paulus Haindere, adds that the cables and streetlights are attached to old, rotten poles, which could fall and endanger residents and businesses.

“Small businesses that depend on electricity for their business are at risk at Okahandja because the electricity can go off for up to an hour due to a pole that has fallen in their street,” he says.

Haindere adds that residents pay taxes and expect services in return, and that authorities must act without public prompting.

Cenored spokesperson Chali Matengu says electrical poles have a lifespan of eight to 10 years and that weather, termites, vandalism and vehicle accidents can shorten that lifespan.

“Inspections of electrical infrastructure are carried out monthly. During these inspections, damaged or weakened infrastructure is identified and recorded. Based on the inspection outcomes, replacement work is scheduled accordingly,” he says.

He notes that Cenored has a maintenance plan for Okahandja for the 2025/2026 financial year, with N$2 million allocated for maintenance, breakdowns and repairs.

Matengu says work at Okahandja South and East was done in the first two quarters of the financial year, and Okahandja North and West “will be addressed before June 2026”.

“The issue at hand was resolved by removing the overhead infrastructure and replacing it with underground cables at a cost of N$322 420. The works were completed yesterday. We assure our customers that we are dedicated to providing a stable and reliable power supply through continuous investment in infrastructure, swift response to faults, and collaboration with stakeholders to address this challenge,” he says.

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