{"id":82852,"date":"2025-01-09T15:23:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T15:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities"},"modified":"2025-01-13T11:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T11:53:08","slug":"okahandjas-conflicting-realities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities","title":{"rendered":"Okahandja\u2019s conflicting realities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span> <\/b> Residents of Okahandja\u2019s Ekunde and Five-Rand informal settlements on the town\u2019s outskirts have shot down council\u2019s assertions that it has tackled most challenges in their area.<\/p>\n

The Okahandja municipality has said it has done its best to tackle challenges in the town\u2019s informal settlements, where residents have complained of a perennial underdelivery of service by the council.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on developmental milestones recently, the municipality touted achievements in the rolling out of housing projects, improved infrastructure and environmental sustainability.<\/p>\n

Municipality spokesperson Master Penna told New Era that infrastructure has especially been a central focus of Okahandja\u2019s development efforts.<\/p>\n

He underscored the municipality\u2019s commitment to tackling the challenges of informal settlements.<\/p>\n

Residents, however, painted a starkly different picture, with many decrying neglect and substandard living conditions.<\/p>\n

Ekunde informal settlement residents shared grim accounts of daily struggles.<\/p>\n

The settlement lacks basic amenities, such as municipal toilets, electricity and consistent water access.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rubbish has not been picked up even once,\u201d lamented Lukrysia Gaingos, a 44-year-old resident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to rely on people with access to trucks to clean up the area. We compensate them ourselves. The municipality and councillors have never cleaned up here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Water scarcity exacerbates the plight, as over 300 people rely on distant communal taps.<\/p>\n

While the municipality claims to prioritise informal settlement upgrades, residents who spoke to New Era lamented little improvement.<\/p>\n

Contrarily, Penna said the council has registered, and is currently busy with blocking and soon the surveying of about +\/- 700 single residential erven in Ekunde 1, 2, 3 and 6 will be given to the current occupants.<\/p>\n

Adverts will be posted for the available land in Ekunde 4 for +\/- 300 single residential erven.<\/p>\n

\u201cEkunde 5 have allocations of +\/- 300 people, where allocated land and services are being extended as we speak. CENORED is also installing free electrical boxes for the residents of Ekunde 5, who have paid the N$2 000 deposit for the land and have a structure put up as part of their social responsibility. The sale of land as per the valuation is ranging from N$11 000 to N$15 000 at most,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

The municipality highlighted its five-year strategic plan (2024-2029), focusing on infrastructure, economic growth, governance and environmental sustainability.<\/p>\n

Notable achievements include the completion of over 2 000 homes in Osona Village, the construction of new roads, and boosting connectivity and progress on a new fire station to improve emergency response.<\/p>\n

Penna said they have upgraded water infrastructure, including the installation of elevated water tanks and borehole revival.<\/p>\n

Residents of the Five-rand settlement were collecting water from what appeared to be a pond formed by a burst pipe recently when New Era visited the town.<\/p>\n

Johannes Laina, gathering water for cooking, shared the grim reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is only one functioning tap in the area. Most of the taps are broken, and have never been fixed. The only one left is very far from where we are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her neighbour, Marry Lukas echoed frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere won\u2019t be a day we don\u2019t see municipality vehicles in the location, but whatever they are trying to inspect, only they know,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Penna said the municipality, in collaboration with other stakeholders, has been working on a tenure security intervention, aimed at upgrading informal settlements in Ekunde and Five Rand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project has progressed through several phases, including profiling, enumeration and planning, with layouts for both Ekunde and Five Rand settlements now finalised,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n

The next steps include land surveying and re-blocking, where community members are actively involved in funding and selecting service providers.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Residents of Okahandja\u2019s Ekunde and Five-Rand informal settlements on the town\u2019s outskirts have shot down council\u2019s assertions that it has tackled most challenges in their area. The Okahandja municipality has said it has done its best to tackle challenges in the town\u2019s informal settlements, where residents have complained of a perennial underdelivery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-82852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nOkahandja\u2019s conflicting realities - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Residents of Okahandja\u2019s Ekunde and Five-Rand informal settlements on the town\u2019s outskirts have shot down counc ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Okahandja\u2019s conflicting realities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Residents of Okahandja\u2019s Ekunde and Five-Rand informal settlements on the town\u2019s outskirts have shot down counc ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-09T15:23:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-13T11:53:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2025\/01\/sm_1736425736.146013.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1152\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Okahandja\u2019s conflicting realities\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-09T15:23:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-13T11:53:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities\"},\"wordCount\":601,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2025\/01\/sm_1736425736.146013.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/okahandjas-conflicting-realities\",\"name\":\"Okahandja\u2019s conflicting realities - 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