Katutura residents take to the streets
"Time is money, and money is what we don't have."These were the words with which the petition concluded and which was handed over to the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, yesterday.
Dissatisfied residents of Katutura held a protest march, first to the head office of the Windhoek municipality, and then to Uutoni's office, looking for answers and help. The residents gave the minister 72 hours to react.
They specifically demand that Uutoni intervene in the municipality's use of the company Red Force to collect debts
Furthermore, they no longer have confidence in the capital's management and city council, and ask the minister to remove the municipality's leadership.
The residents' dissatisfaction with the town council follows six months after they submitted a letter of complaint to the municipality with proposals to tackle the issues of debt, water and power supply in their neighbourhoods. According to the residents, the municipality has not responded yet.
Windhoek's mayor, Joseph Uapingene, did not meet the residents at the municipal head office yesterday morning, and when he arrived at the ministry's office later, the crowd did not want to listen to him.
Shaun Gariseb, a community activist from the Katutura Movement for Change and the spokesperson for the disgruntled residents, said they were not impressed that Uutoni kept them waiting while he met with Uapingene. This after old people, who are part of the procession, had to walk so far to make their voice heard.
Gariseb says Uutoni must consider their proposals, which were made in the interest of both the municipality and the residents, and force the municipality to implement them. If Uutoni does not respond to their demands, the residents will either have to approach President Hage Geingob or the courts, he said. Other options could have ugly outcomes, he adds.
During the march, the well-known musician Jericho Gawanab also raised the access to water and power supply, and also Red Force's practice of confiscating people's houses over municipal debt, as burning issues.
When asked, Red Force's deputy chief executive and legal adviser, Margaret Malambo, denied that the debt collector was seizing houses due to non-payment.
"Neither Red Force nor the City of Windhoek has ever seized or sold property to recover debts since the establishment of our contract," she maintains.
"Our collection methods are holistic and ethical and are derived from the credit control policies that govern our customers. We maintain that all our engagements with the surrendered debtors are always above suspicion," she adds.
"The protests are of course a pity," says Malambo, adding that the leaders of the protesters are inciting people because they cannot repay their own debts.
"It is our considered opinion that these leaders are deliberately inciting residents to serve their own interests and detract from their responsibilities to our customers. In short, our operations remain unaffected - we will continue to perform our work, as required," she maintained.
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