A plea for humanity
11 families left homeless
After the heavy rains on Friday afternoon, residents of the Kapuka Nauyala informal settlement were left with nothing.
Muddy school books, damaged kitchen equipment and a lost mud soaked teddy bear was witnessed over the weekend after residents lost their homes and all of their belongings after the heavy rains on Friday.“The exams are starting soon and my children lost everything,” said Emilia Naftal, a resident of the Kapuka Nauyala informal settlement, pointing to the damaged school books that is covered in mud. “The children are so scared and confused. And we can’t comfort them because we also don’t know what is going to happen next,” she said. According to some residents they phoned the municipality as soon as they realized there is a problem on Friday, but municipality staff apparently only arrived after five in the afternoon, when the damage was done.
“The municipality has done nothing for us. They did not offer food or accommodation on Friday night, leaving us all to sit on chairs outside our homes to guard what is left of our belongings,” Naftal said. “The water took most of our things, including our IDs and driver’s license cards. We don’t know where to begin looking for it.”
One resident, who did not want to be named said he is very stressed because he lost his pistol and the license. “The water just took it. I don’t know where to start looking for it.”
Residents were laying out mud stained mattresses in the sun on Saturday in the hopes that it would dry by the night but the bases were all damaged.
According to Abe Hamutenya, of the Fire and Rescue division at the City of Windhoek, the residents affected built beyond the border line of the river bed, making it unsafe especially during the rainy season. “They are affected now and it has become our problem and we really need to assist because when lives are lost, it won’t be nice,” he said.
He said the teams from the storm water department needs to come and assess the situation and give guidance. “It’s going to be problematic because more rain is still coming.
Another resident, Iileka Shetunyenga, said he has been calling the municipality since August, alleging he knew there will be a problem once the rainy season starts. “The municipality removed a skipper here five months ago, leaving us with no place to put our garbage,” he said. This could not be confirmed by the municipality. Shetuntenga added that the residents soon started using the riverbed as a garbage disposal site. The garbage caused a blockage once the rain came and the water had nowhere to go but up, flooding all the homes in the area.
Questions posed to the CoW spokesperson where not answered over the weekend.