Otjiwarongo housing dispute heads to minister
OTJIWARONGO – Occupants of the single quarters at Otjiwarongo resolved on Friday to approach the Minister of Urban and Rural Development Erastus Uutoni over a dispute surrounding their relocation to Camp Five township.
The residents said at a media conference that they will meet with Uutoni in Windhoek today.
“We are not happy with the relocation plan as the new township is situated far from town, far from our workplaces, schools, hospitals, shops and other services. We will meet our minister to engage him,” they said.
The residents further promised to accept any relocation housing plan similar to that of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia, and suggested that the vacant land near the military base or next to the Orwetoveni cemetery be used instead as it is a better option than Camp Five.
Otjiwarongo mayor Gottlieb Shivute on Thursday told Nampa that the municipality’s plan to relocate the residents of the single quarters is final, and will be implemented this year by the council.
He said the main idea is to decongest the 30 overcrowded houses which belong to the municipality to make them habitable.
“There is also debt of more than N$1.5 million which the residents of the single quarters owe the municipality in rates and taxes,” he observed.
Shivute said 3 000 plots have been identified for the single quarters’ residents at the newlyproclaimed Camp Five informal area.
A total of 120 families now occupy the single quarters’ houses, and the conditions they live in are unhygienic.
Shivute added that the municipality will sell the houses to the highest bidders at reserve prices of N$90 000, with preference given to the current occupants.
The municipality, however, is yet to provide Camp Five with services such as water and electricity.