Africa-Press – Namibia. OSHAKATI mayor Leonard Hango said the town council has created a special housing programme for junior police officers, soldiers and Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs cleaners, many of whom are unable to secure home loans from commercial banks.
According to Hango, this special housing programme was created because existing programmes, such as Build Together and the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia, are not inclusive of police officers and junior soldiers.
The programme is only applicable to those officers working at Oshakati.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Hango said currently the majority of junior staff live in shacks.
“Not because they want it but because they cannot afford houses,” he said.
Oshana regional commander, commissioner Rauha Amwele provided a list of 281 police officers, ranking from constables to warrant officers, with a monthly salary of between N$9 000 and N$19 000.
The head of 263 Motorised Infantry Battalion (Oshakati military camp), lieutenant colonel Stefanus Isai, provided a list of 131 junior staff, from cleaners to staff sergeants, who earn between N$3 500 to N$13 000 per month.
Hango said so far, the town council has identified 70 erven at Onawa Extension 7 at Oshakati.
He said when the new council took over in 2020, the Oshakati Build Together programme was ineffective.
“When we revived it, we realised that the programme was not inclusive of our men and women in uniform. The qualification criteria for the Build Together programme is a maximum income of N$6 000. Our men and women in uniform, who are officials in the police and defence force, have higher salaries, but they cannot be catered for by commercial banks to acquire houses,” he said.
“These people happen to be in a grey area. I wrote to the minister to request to change the criteria for the Build Together programme,” Hango said.
“The minister said it was not going to be easy, as it would go to parliament for discussion. Then I said ‘fine, can we not create a special programme for these people because most of them are ageing and cannot afford houses?’”
Contacted for comment yesterday, Amwele said she was happy with the council’s decision to allocate land to junior police officers.
“They should continue doing it for all those with little income to have a place to call home,” she said.
Isai also welcomed the council’s decision to allocate residential plots to NDF staff.
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