Africa-Press – Namibia. The group advocating a basic income grant (BIG) for Namibia has advised community members at Swakopmund and Walvis Bay that there is no registration being done for such grants.
This is after a concerned community member, Patema Nakanyala, stopped people who were claiming to be registering community members for a BIG in the DRC area of Swakopmund on Friday.
Nakanyala said she received a call from friends saying that the government wants to start paying all Namibians, whether employed or not, a monthly grant of N$500 at a house in DRC.
“There was a huge crowd and when I asked the lady who was registering people what was happening, she told me that they heard on the radio that the government will pay people N$500. The documents they were using did not have an official government stamp. It was just pages torn out of an exercise book,” she said.
The public was allegedly asked to provide payslips and bank statements for the supposed registration.
Nakanyala reported the matter to the police and the Swakopmund constituency regional councillor’s office.
The organisation BIG in Namibia held information sessions on a basic income grant at Swakopmund and Walvis Bay last week.
BIG activist Casper Bowora confirmed no registration for BIG is being done.
“There must be a misunderstanding. The people who are taking people’s information are not doing it on our behalf. We did not assign anyone to do so. Maybe it’s someone who wants to scam the public,” he said.
He said the information sessions were meant to explain the importance of BIG in Namibia and not to register people for such a programme.
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