Lack of facilities frustrates Mix residents

Lack of facilities frustrates Mix residents Mix Settlement residents have expressed frustration over the lack of basic services in the vast informal area.

Located 20 kilometres north of Windhoek, the settlement is inhabited by approximately 3 000 people, according to the 2011 census.

Most complaints by residents relate to the lack of water, electricity, schools, hospitals, clinics, shops, and police and fire brigade services at the settlement, which falls under the Windhoek Rural Constituency.

Tobias Sakaria, 27, who has been living at Mix for six years, told Nampa in an interview last week that residents were suffering there. “The government must provide us with services such as a hospital or clinic, a school and ablution facilities at least,” he said.

Mix residents travel to Windhoek to recharge their water meter cards, which means they have to pay N$60 for transport.

Sakaria questioned the government's commitment to redistributing the country's wealth to all Namibians, saying residents of the informal settlement were not benefiting from the Harambee Prosperity Plan.

Another resident, Justina Namalenga, 24, said fire brigade services should be a priority in the area as most inhabitants lived in shacks that were prone to catching fire.

“Everything of mine burned in a fire in June; it is a big loss,” Namalenga said, adding that she received a bit of assistance from the councillor's office: a mattress, maize meal and cooking oil, but it was not enough. Other residents questioned the councillor's commitment to the settlement, claiming she never attended to them.

Contacted on Monday, Windhoek Rural Constituency councillor Penina Iita disputed these claims, saying since assuming office 11 months ago, she had been to the settlement three times but could only attend to the most important and urgent issues.

“I have to prioritise the issues to deal with accordingly, as so many people depend on me to help solve their problems,” she said.

Priorities include crime prevention, poverty alleviation and water provision, Iita said. She said had been identified for pre-primary, primary and secondary schools.

“Hopefully construction plans will be initiated in February since there was a delay due to the poor inflow of water into the dams that supply water to Windhoek.”

Iita said the vastness of her constituency complicated covering it, as she had to drive long distances to get to the constituents.