Councillor in spruce up drive for Katutura homes
Katutura Central constituency councillor Rodman Katjaimo is on a mission to refresh and give a facelift to the washed out walls of the houses in the area.
He said houses that were built in the early 1960s have never been repainted.
The popular former radio personality, who stormed to victory in last year’s regional council election, told New Era they are going to create a platform for people who want to have their houses repainted to register their names with a N$100 fee in the different locations of the constituency and random selections will happen for those houses to be painted.
“It will be a draw, something like a random selection and the N$100 fee will go to things like filling up cracks on the walls, we have volunteers from the communities and they need some allowances too,” informed Katjaimo, pointing at a large crack on a wall and some volunteers who started painting the house of Milka Mutirakuti.
He said the first batch of houses to be painted is 50 for this year but with the interest of the community, more will come forward.
The Pupkewitz Foundation and a Namibian in the diaspora, Ngena Kamapunga, donated the paint.
Mutirakuti, sitting in front of her home, said she was ecstatic that the councillor has started this project, which will add value to their homes.
“I am so happy, my house was the first to be identified. I thank the team a lot for what they are doing and wish them all the strength to make this a successful project,” said the jovial Mutirakuti.
“All I need now is a fence and I will be fine. I am not getting any younger. The years are gone. We old people don’t want much in life,” shared the 79-year-old pensioner, who has been living in the house since the 1950s.
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) McHenry Venaani said houses were not owned back then, they were rented out for N$3.40 and they were a replica of the division caused by the apartheid.
“That number shows H2917, which means you are a Herero, if you are a Damara it would be D2917, a Nama N2917. If you look at that number, it is still the same house numbers that are being used in an independent Namibia, 31 years after independence,” said Venaani.
He said the tale of the homes tell a story that Namibia has not developed over several years, adding that Katutura needs to be revamped as it is the centre that has produced all the luminaries and Windhoekers who have climbed corporate Namibia.