42 fires, four deaths in 6 months
Windhoek's informal settlements have experienced a sharp increase in shack fires this year, with 42 incidents and four confirmed deaths recorded between January and June 2025.The fires have become a recurring event, ravaging homes and lives across multiple constituencies, with Tobias Hainyeko, Moses Garoeb and Samora Machel topping the list of affected areas.
According to fire statistics obtained from the City of Windhoek (CoW), the number of shack fires recorded by the municipality during the first half of the year totalled 42. The statistics indicate that January recorded the highest number of shack fires, at 14.
Between February and March, ten fires were recorded. The last three months of the first half included 18 fires and four deaths.
The most recent fire incident, which occurred in mid-June, claimed the life of 29-year-old Johannes Nathanael. Community members of the Havana informal settlement said they struggled to rescue Nathanael as the fire spread rapidly.
In another incident that occurred in April, two minor children, aged four and six, lost their lives when their home in the One Nation informal settlement suddenly caught fire.
In May, a life was lost in Ombili location (Omuvapu Street) – the same street where two other deaths had already occurred in April, making it one of the deadliest zones.
Residents continue to suffer repeated losses. On 19 June, a family in Havana lost their home to a blaze for the second time, highlighting the lack of lasting solutions and recovery options.
Earlier in the year, on 1 March, four families were left homeless following a fire incident in Windhoek.
In an interview with Network Media Hub, Stefanus Ndengu, councillor of the Moses Garoeb Constituency, pointed to structural issues and delayed service delivery as contributing factors.
“The problem is that demarcation is taking too long,” Ndengu said. “The fire brigade also takes too long to reach the informal settlements to put out the fire. We wrote a letter to the fire brigade for a mobile fire station in the informal settlement, as that may help.”
While the causes of these fires remain under investigation in some cases, the broader pattern suggests that congestion, lack of access to emergency services, and slow infrastructural development are to blame.