Formalising Otjiwarongo
Residents of Otjiwarongo informal settlements can look forward to receiving deeds of sale for the properties where they live, as the informal settlement upgrade initiative in the town gathers momentum, according to deputy mayor Sebeteus Guiteb.
He says residents in more that 4000 units in informal settlements in Otjiwarongo, including the biggest; Ombili, have started contributing N$100 a month towards a fund specifically intended to finance the upgrades. He says that along with contributions from central government, 60% of the money raised from inhabitants goes to the upgrade fund, while 40% is earmarked to pay for the associated administrative costs.
The DRC informal settlement name will change to Heroes’ Park, extentions 1 to 5, Guiteb said.
Previously the 8000 holders of formal residential accounts with the municipality would cross-subsidise the municipal costs associated with the town’s informal settlements, but with 80% of the administrative side of the flexible land tenure system applied in Otjiwarongo’s four major informal settlements, and numerous lease agreements in place, formalisation requires that residents in DRC, for example, start paying for themselves, he said.
Guiteb has served on the town council for the last six years.
“Where people never grabbed land,” in most of these informal settlements, residents who have long been on municipal land allocation lists will be beneficiaries of the upgrade, he said. “Some have lived for more than 30 years on that land,” he elaborates. Already management comittees of five to seven people are being established to represent each 100 houses in the area.
Even at Eie Risiko, where about 1050 plots were grabbed, the municipality has decided to create blocks 1 to 7, bring proper roads, create fire-brigade access and has brought water supply to blocks 1 to 4, soon to be renamed Extention 16 and 17, he said.
“We have proper MOU’s with the Shack Dwellers, the Namibia Housing Action Group, NHE and Development Workshop, so residents can, for example, negotiate with the Shack Dwellers so that you can build a proper house for yourself there,” he said.
Thanks to a survey done with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in 2021, Guiteb was able to share that households in the informal settlements average income levels of N$3 500 per month, and that the 22 000 informal settlement inhabitants are a big part of the total Otjiwarongo population of more than 54 000 residents.
“Housing is being addressed properly,” he said, explaining that 104 plots were allocated to the Build Together initiative, more than 483 to Development Workshop in extensions 24 and 25, “and we are in negotiations with Ongos regarding 598 housing units under a rent to own concept,” said Guiteb.
“The plots in Extention 12 and Extention 8 are near all sold out, averaging prices from N$150 000 to N$240 000, and NHE has built more than 40 houses of which 20 are for municipal employees.”
Otjiwarongo needs to find space for a proper street market with taxi amenities, he says, while the one-day market that the town council has introduced, must be maintained.
“Next to be addressed is Dr. Libertine Amadhila Street, fitness certificates and changes from residential to business (zoning),” said Guiteb.
He also spoke of a five year ban on new liquor licenses in informal areas, and plans for community meetings with owners to enforce proper application and certification. “We want to address this quickly,” he said.
Listen to Guiteb's call for more investment in Otjiwarongo here: q.my.na/CY5S
