Africa-Press – Namibia. Bethanie residents have expressed their dismay over living under deplorable conditions where utmost poverty is the order of the day.
Their plight was ventilated by several residents when this publication visited the village recently.
Piet Matroos (47) said more than 80% of residents are unemployed, with most living on handouts from old-age pensioners, while others depend on monthly social grants. “The only way of finding a job here is doing casual work on nearby farms and with road infrastructure rehabilitation companies, apart from those working at government offices, local businesses and security companies,’’ he said.
They are allegedly denied erven to put up structures for accommodation.
“Most pensioners who were in possession of erven passed away in the meantime, whilst other owners are not developing them, yet we still cannot access it,’’ Matroos said.
He added: “A lot of houses standing here belong to the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development’s Build Together programme with a price tag of N$75 000. But since we cannot afford it, they are now standing empty, being vandalised with materials like doors and taps broken or stolen.”
In terms of the provision of basic services by the Bethanie Village Council, he said it is quite disheartening that some pensioners are still living today without electricity in areas like Riverside, Gobebfontein and Swellendorf. “Worsening the situation, some informal settlements are only provided with water by single taps per small community, which is a challenge to serve all, whilst people are forced to use wood for cooking at private farms due to poverty,’’ he raised lamented.
Seen in the light of receiving good rains in the Bethanie district, he called on the government to provide them with unoccupied land, seeds and livestock to start making a living.
“Another obstacle we are experiencing is that we can only access banking services through one Automatic Teller Machine (ATM), and in addition, the only retail shops here are very expensive, thus forcing citizens to travel to Keetmanshoop (130km) to do shopping and access other commercial banks, which is costly as they can only make use of public transport.”
Another resident, 27-year-old Ricardo van Wyk, bemoans the fact that there is no future for them as the youth in the village.
“After completing our education up to secondary level, we are just roaming the streets without any vision, and most of the time these youngsters try to find solace in substance abuse and committing petty crimes out of boredom and desperation,’’ he emphasised.
Van Wyk said there are no training opportunities available for them in Bethanie, and that they further cannot afford to travel to the Keetmanshoop Youth Training Centre, where such opportunities are available from time to time.
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