Windhoek rural residents lack basic services – Inga-Ita

WINDHOEK Rural constituency councillor Penina Inga-Ita on Tuesday expressed concern over the plight of people living at settlements and farms that are part of Windhoek’s rural areas, saying they have no access to basic services.

Inga-Ita was speaking during the handover of gardening materials donated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation to the Nauaspoort youth gardening project at the Nauaspoort settlement. The donation was made through the Ministry of Sports, Youth and National Service.

The councillor said residents of rural areas around Windhoek are living in deplorable conditions with no clean water, electricity or toilets. They are exposed to unhygienic conditions and numerous health problems.

The councillor said to make matters worse, most of them are unemployed, and they just turn to alcohol abuse for solace.

Inga-Ita added that some people live on private farms, but the owners of these farms are not helping the government to provide basic amenities to the inhabitants of these areas.

“The situation is made worse by farm owners who refuse us entry to their properties to reach out to people living on their farms to give them the services they need,” she stated.

The councillor gave an example of a farm located east of Windhoek along the road to the airport, where approximately 600 people live without electricity, clean water or ablution facilities, but when her office tried to provide them with these basic needs, the farm owner refused them entry without any reason.

The chairman of Nauaspoort settlement, Kenneth Eixab, said at the same occasion that he is concerned over young people who are supposed to be productive at their age, but have nothing to do, and subsequently resort to alcohol abuse.

“My biggest problem here is the high number of children dropping out of school and starting to roam around, doing nothing. You see teenage girls falling pregnant, and putting their parents under pressure to raise their children with their meagre monthly pensions,” Eixab lamented. – Nampa

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