One year later, flood victims still in Dolam

A YEAR ago 14 houses in Katutura’s Dolam section were flooded after heavy rains, leaving about 150 people without a roof over their heads.

They are still living in the flood-damaged houses, waiting for the conclusions of negotiations between their lawyers and the City of Windhoek and watching the skies for signs of heavy rain. According to the affected residents, they had never in the 40 years of Dolam’s existence experienced flooding such as last year’s, and they blame the construction of the Sam Nujoma Stadium for rerouting storm water to their homes.”Our lives were changed that night and as we rescued each other and whatever else we could, we knew that hardships lay ahead.Little did we know that one year later we would still be waiting and demanding justice,” one of them told The Namibian yesterday.After the flood on January 4 last year, the inhabitants of the 14 flooded houses took shelter in the football stadium for almost six months, while their homes became a health risk and had to be cleaned and disinfected by the City of Windhoek.”The City of Windhoek still refuses to accept responsibility for the floods and even though they agreed to compensate us for our losses and build us new homes, we are still waiting”.Some residents refused the City’s compensation offer, saying that it did not match the value of their homes and they did not want to move to poorer accommodation than what they were used to.The City then offered to relocate the residents to Otjomuise, but they rejected this too, saying they wanted to stay in Katutura.The municipality’s next offer was to build 14 new houses on Erf 2117 in Soweto, close to the turnoff to the Lafrenz industrial area, where the Black Africa football field used to be.This will cost the City about N$3,5 million, as the land must first be subdivided into plots and serviced with water and sewerage pipes, electricity connections, streets and street lights.To date no construction has begun.Consultations between the residents and the municipality are ongoing and building will start as soon as an agreement has been reached.It is not clear whether all 14 families have agreed to be relocated.Another unresolved question is whether the new houses will be built according to the floor plans of the flooded Dolam houses or whether standard two-bedroom houses will be built.According to the affected residents, they had never in the 40 years of Dolam’s existence experienced flooding such as last year’s, and they blame the construction of the Sam Nujoma Stadium for rerouting storm water to their homes.”Our lives were changed that night and as we rescued each other and whatever else we could, we knew that hardships lay ahead.Little did we know that one year later we would still be waiting and demanding justice,” one of them told The Namibian yesterday.After the flood on January 4 last year, the inhabitants of the 14 flooded houses took shelter in the football stadium for almost six months, while their homes became a health risk and had to be cleaned and disinfected by the City of Windhoek.”The City of Windhoek still refuses to accept responsibility for the floods and even though they agreed to compensate us for our losses and build us new homes, we are still waiting”.Some residents refused the City’s compensation offer, saying that it did not match the value of their homes and they did not want to move to poorer accommodation than what they were used to.The City then offered to relocate the residents to Otjomuise, but they rejected this too, saying they wanted to stay in Katutura.The municipality’s next offer was to build 14 new houses on Erf 2117 in Soweto, close to the turnoff to the Lafrenz industrial area, where the Black Africa football field used to be.This will cost the City about N$3,5 million, as the land must first be subdivided into plots and serviced with water and sewerage pipes, electricity connections, streets and street lights.To date no construction has begun.Consultations between the residents and the municipality are ongoing and building will start as soon as an agreement has been reached.It is not clear whether all 14 families have agreed to be relocated.Another unresolved question is whether the new houses will be built according to the floor plans of the flooded Dolam houses or whether standard two-bedroom houses will be built.