Omitara residents besieged by hardships

• KAIPAHERUE KANDJIIUNEMPLOYMENT, poverty and a hopeless state of mind under difficult living conditions has led to an increase in crime at the Omitara settlement. The criminal activities mainly committed by destitute young people involve cattle and goat theft, has learnt.

Teenage pregnancies and alcohol abuse are reportedly also on the increase at this settlement, located about 100 kilometres east of Windhoek in the Omaheke region’s Okorukambe constituency.

With the adjacent village of Otjivero, both settlements have a combined population of 1 200.

Community leader at Omitara, Lena Seibes described the settlement as a “hopeless” place for both young and old, as almost everyone has resorted to drowning their sorrows and misfortunes at the mushrooming drinking outlets that line the gravel roads of Omitara.

“We have absolutely nothing to do here,” she said.

Seibes noted that a lack of interest from the previous leadership in creating employment opportunities and youth empowerment initiatives have contributed to the escalating poverty and crime at the settlement.

“Whenever we took our concerns to the previous councillors who were responsible for the development of the village, they pleaded ignorance to our plight,” she said.

Seibes said the sullen community plans on engaging the newly elected community leadership, as well as the constituency councillor to deliberate on the challenges facing the village and how best to address them.

Resident Elfriede Shikongo (23) told Nampa the situation at Omitara needs urgent attention from government. Almost every young person at Omitara has a child, she said, adding that at her homestead there are seven children.

“All they do is make babies and dump them with their parents and continue with either their drinking habits or stealing goats or working at the farms.

“But now, even the farmers do not want to employ us anymore because workers sometimes steal from them and fight and stab one another with knives and bottles when intoxicated,” said Shikongo.

Omitara and Otjivero were the pilot sites for the Basic Income Grant (BIG) project by a coalition of civil society organisations between 2008 and 2009.

Every person under the retirement age of 60 was given N$100 per month, intended for economically empowering projects. The project ended in April 2014 when funds ran out.

Reports showed that poverty-related crime, malnutrition rates among children and school dropouts had decreased since the inception of the BIG project, but that is not the situation anymore.

“We lived a better life when that project was here because people could afford a decent meal; even those on medication such as for Tuberculosis, and antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS benefited,” said Seibes.

On the positive side, almost all households within Omitara have water and electricity services.

The settlement also has a well-structured school known as Otjivero Primary School, a police station and a clinic where a number of locals have been recruited for cleaning and maintenance work, among others.

“The pupils’ mothers always come to the school to help with the cooking during the school feeding programme, and they even bring food along to the school to contribute, and the fathers have also been involved to a great extent because every now and then they bring firewood or meat or anything within their means.

“They really appreciate the school because it has changed their little children positively,” said Josia Nghidengwa Taukuheke, the head of department at the Otjivero Primary School.

Meanwhile, poverty eradication minister Zephania Kameeta said earlier this month the BIG initiative aimed at eradicating poverty in Namibia by the year 2025, will soon be tabled in Cabinet for discussion and approval.

“Even developed countries such as Finland are turning to the Basic Income Grant. The war on poverty needs to be fought from all fronts,” the minister said.

–Nampa

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