Who Wants To Take Responsibility?

THE Sam Nujoma stadium was constructed after being OK’d by the City of Windhoek.

Following that ill-planned construction was the flooding of the Dolam community. Neither the City of Windhoek nor the construction company accepted responsibility.In fact, the blame was put on the residents.Some time ago again, the Acacia housing project was flooded.The explanation from the City of Windhoek was not convincing.Now flats are being constructed in the riverbed next to Acacia.The City of Windhoek has given the go-ahead to contractors there.Mark my words, the Municipality will deny responsibility when the disaster strikes again.Now Mariental is flooded.The NamWater Chief Executive Officer gave feedback on the NBC’s National Chat Show and he wants the public to believe that NamWater is not guilty of anything.He says the situation should be looked at as a national disaster just like the recent tsunami.I beg to differ with this view.First of all, the flooding is a result of the dam’s sluices being opened and not a direct result of rain.I hope everyone agrees with this.Dams were constructed with a provision of sluices to release excess capacity in such cases.A responsible and caring person will also think and plan accordingly where he/she releases such water.It does not require a rocket scientist to discover that when the Hardap Dam’s water is released, it runs to the lower-lying area being the town of Mariental.Just like in the Dolam case, why did NamWater engineers not reroute the course/path of water so released to the nearest river so that it automatically runs into the sea? How can the planning only end with the dam’s wellbeing and not go further to the people for whom the dam was constructed? If the same thing happened in the year 2000, what did NamWater do to prevent a recurrence of flooding? Could they not learn through experience? They simply don’t care.The conclusion we can come to is that no one in these parastatals will ever take responsibility, no matter how obvious the scenario might be.I urge the Mariental community to unite and institute a claim against NamWater for failing to do their work properly.That will set an example to companies, especially parastatals, to start employing competent and capable people who will take their jobs seriously.The floods are an example of what happens when the wrong people are employed.Angry citizen Via e-mailNeither the City of Windhoek nor the construction company accepted responsibility.In fact, the blame was put on the residents.Some time ago again, the Acacia housing project was flooded.The explanation from the City of Windhoek was not convincing.Now flats are being constructed in the riverbed next to Acacia.The City of Windhoek has given the go-ahead to contractors there.Mark my words, the Municipality will deny responsibility when the disaster strikes again.Now Mariental is flooded.The NamWater Chief Executive Officer gave feedback on the NBC’s National Chat Show and he wants the public to believe that NamWater is not guilty of anything.He says the situation should be looked at as a national disaster just like the recent tsunami.I beg to differ with this view.First of all, the flooding is a result of the dam’s sluices being opened and not a direct result of rain.I hope everyone agrees with this.Dams were constructed with a provision of sluices to release excess capacity in such cases.A responsible and caring person will also think and plan accordingly where he/she releases such water.It does not require a rocket scientist to discover that when the Hardap Dam’s water is released, it runs to the lower-lying area being the town of Mariental.Just like in the Dolam case, why did NamWater engineers not reroute the course/path of water so released to the nearest river so that it automatically runs into the sea? How can the planning only end with the dam’s wellbeing and not go further to the people for whom the dam was constructed? If the same thing happened in the year 2000, what did NamWater do to prevent a recurrence of flooding? Could they not learn through experience? They simply don’t care.The conclusion we can come to is that no one in these parastatals will ever take responsibility, no matter how obvious the scenario might be.I urge the Mariental community to unite and institute a claim against NamWater for failing to do their work properly.That will set an example to companies, especially parastatals, to start employing competent and capable people who will take their jobs seriously.The floods are an example of what happens when the wrong people are employed.Angry citizen Via e-mail