Highlights from Council Chambers
During the first ordinary Windhoek City Council meeting of 2024 last Thursday, Mayor Queen Kamati pledged to focus on critical issues that are essential to enhance municipal service delivery and improve the well-being of residents.Speaking at the meeting, Kamati said that the City began with the registration process for the writing off of pensioners' debt on 15 February 2024. “The registration process is going well, with close to 900 pensioners having registered so far,” she said.
In light of this, she reminded pensioners that they can register at the City of Windhoek offices in town, Katutura, and Ombili for their convenience. “Non-pensioners and businesses do not need to register because their interest relief will be processed automatically,” she said.
The CoW is providing relief to its residents with the writing off of debts of over N$500 million, including over N$200 million for pensioners. This initiative will provide greater financial flexibility to residents during these challenging economic times.
Water waste
The mayor also warned against water wastage, stating that despite the water-saving measures introduced last year, weekly monitoring of water consumption shows that residents have exceeded water consumption. Although the capital has received some rain over the last few weeks, it is still crucial to conserve water. “If residents do not reduce their water use, we may have to impose penalties soon,” she said.
The mayor urges residents to remain vigilant about water leaks and wastages in and around homes and places of work and make every effort to save water. She encouraged residents to stay up to date with the latest water conservation situation in the city by following the city's social media channels.
Rocky Crest extension
City Council approved the establishment of a township on Portion 317, Rocky Crest, to be known as Rocky Crest Extension 8. This move is aimed at addressing the escalating demand for urban housing and related amenities in the city.
The proposed extension measures about 25 hectares and consists of 227 erven. It is situated to the south of Rocky Crest along the eastern boundary of Otjomuise Road and the north-western boundary of Bernt Carlson Road. It borders on a small section of the Rocky Crest Extension 5 development.
The development offers a mixed land use concept place of work and live, where people can live and work in the same space, and it supports the Sustainable Urban Transport Master Plan (SUTMP), which proposes access through collector roads of 25 meters wide, providing enough space for taxi stops and ranks, as well as bus stops.
€60k grant
Former mayor Joseph Uapingene led a delegation of five to participate in the first in-person AfriFOODlinks Consortium held in Kisumu, Kenya from 19 to 22 June 2023. The visit resulted in several benefits for the City of Windhoek, including grant funding of €60 000 (around N$1.2 million at the November 2023 euro-Namibia dollar exchange rate) spread over one year for the Windhoek Urban Food Systems Transformation Pilot Project.
Moreover, the meeting led to a cluster exchange visit to Windhoek from 26 February 2024 to 1 March 2024, which is fully sponsored by AfriFOODlinks and its partners. The purpose of the visit is to foster collaboration and exchange between city officials on food system transformation at the city level.
Finally, the council will participate in the 2024/2025 exchange visits to partner cities Chefchaouen, Morocco, and Bonn, Germany, which will also be sponsored by AfriFOODlinks and its partners in collaboration with the hosting cities.