Katutura residents want to see CoW's budget
The Katutura residents' committee has given the Windhoek municipality (CoW) until the end of October to make public its approved annual budget, saying water and power outages are making them "desperate".The committee's chairman, Benestus Kandundu, said during a community meeting on Wednesday that it was "high time" that the Katutura residents had a look at the budget themselves.
"We call on the CoW to make its current approved budget known to the communities - in the same way that it sends out its statements so that everyone knows what they are dealing with.
"By the end of October 2023, the residents should be able to read the budget themselves. We are going to disconnect the City of Windhoek - just as they disconnected our services and essentially our livelihood and prevented our growth," he said.
Over the past few months, there has been growing concern among Katutura residents about the presence of debt collector RedForce Debt Management, but CoW has stood by its decision to use RedForce's services.
67-year-old pensioner Ellen Johannes said during the meeting that her debt had risen to almost N$200 000, which she "just isn't able to pay".
"We are old and have chronic medications to take daily with water that we have to pick up. As the water stands week after week, it becomes more and more contaminated.
"As a result, we are now suffering from severe diarrhoea, but we have no choice. Many of us have been left with debts by our late husbands which we are trying to pay off as best we can with the N$800 we get from NamPost.”
According to Johannes, she received a notice from RedForce to settle her accounts. However, she says the amounts continue to rise - even while the services are suspended.
The committee leader, Shaun Gariseb, further accused CoW of "breaking the law" by demanding payments from residents who do not even have municipal contracts.
"We are considering going to court and demanding that the CoW give us the contracts for the supply of water and electricity, because those contracts are the pinnacle of the supply relationship between the municipality and any resident and will inform the residents about the terms and conditions of his or her contract with the municipality.
"If there are no contracts available - which we know is the case - the municipality is violating the law and its provisions on which it relies to exercise its rights. The absence of such contracts means that the CoW acted without reason and was misguided in the idea that it had the necessary authority to fulfill obligations arising from its legal relationship with the residents,” said Gariseb.
Gariseb added that the committee has now decided to talk to President Hage Geingob with the hope of finding a solution.