Protesters set up camp at Maltahöhe council building

A GROUP of irate residents yesterday set up camp outside the Maltahöhe Village Council to protest poor service delivery, exorbitant tariff hikes and alleged mismanagement.

Calling for the intervention of President Hifikepunye Pohamba, the protesters said the action came in the wake of what they described as a ‘flimsy response’ to a petition handed to Village Council officials last Thursday. ‘We will continue with our protest camp until such time we receive satisfactory answers that can be proved in white and black,’ said the group’s spokesperson, Adam Baisako.The council yesterday responded to the petition.Last Thursday Police had to use pepper spray to disperse a crowd after they became riotous and stormed the Village Council building, threw stones and padlocked the main entrance gate, preventing staff from entering the building. In the petition, residents alleged money earmarked for development projects had gone missing, while tender irregularities were the order of the day. They also said tariff hikes ignored ministerial guidelines and were unaffordable. In its response, the Village Council said some of the protesters’ complaints were under ACC investigation, and therefore could not be commented on. The council also claimed some complaints had been generalised and that some had already been addressed.’We need to meet and discuss these issues for clarity’s sake,’ the council statement reads. ‘If the concerned group do not trust anybody else than themselves, then we have a huge problem and this problem and its petition might be nothing else than a piece of a political smear campaign,’ the statement reads. luqman@namibian.com.na