Shantytown complains about lack of services

RESIDENTS of the Ombili informal settlement at Mariental have expressed anger over a lack of basic services.

The residents claim the Mariental Town Council deliberately denies them the right to basic services, but the municipality has denied this.
Services such as electricity and sanitation are lacking at the informal settlement, where two communal taps provide water to hundreds of residents.
Maria //Gowases (23), who ekes out a living in the informal settlement, told The Namibian that the municipality is not interested in providing basic services at the shantytown.
According to //Gowases, residents of the informal settlement are exposed to all sorts of diseases because of rubbish and human faeces covering all open spaces there.
“Instead of removing the refuse strewn at every open corner, the town council only puts together the rubbish in heaps without removing it,” she claimed.
She added that residents had to relieve themselves in the bush because of a lack of toilets.
“Council promises us bucket toilets, but to date we’re still waiting,” she said.
//Gowases claimed she paid the council N$250 last year for connecting her corrugated iron shack to the town’s power grid, but nothing has come of it.
“You need to offer a kickback to the council’s electricians to have an electricity box installed at your place despite an upfront payment,” she claimed.
“We never benefit from the Government promises of a better life for all, since no one seems interested in the chaotic conditions in which we’re living,” she added.
Another resident, Elsie Janse, blamed the Town Council for the slow pace at which basic services are improved at the shantytown.
“We’ve been informed to start paying off outstanding amounts on our plots, despite lack of proper municipal service. It is evident that the Town Council is only interested in money instead of rendering quality service delivery,” said Janse, who shares her plot with another resident.
Janse claimed that she has also been waiting since last year August to have an electricity box installed, despite paying the installation cost of N$275.
“I do not have an extra N$50 to pay an electric worker at the council to have my electric box installed for which I have already paid,” she said.
The Mariental Town Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Nghiwelepo, rubbished the residents’ claims, saying: “Council does not deny any resident the right to basic services”.
He admitted that some plots at the informal settlement have not been serviced yet, blaming financial constraints.
He pledged that services would be provided as soon as the council had the money.
He said the council had tried to relocate some of the residents to the Donkerhoek area, where services can be provided, but they refused to move.
“Those who do not want to cough up money for basic municipal services refused to be relocated,” he said.
The CEO blamed a lack of manpower for delays in providing electricity connections.
He also claimed that the informal settlement residents are reluctant to buy bucket toilets offered at a subsidised price.