• Infrastructure

Windhoek rejects N$750m informal settlements upgrade funds

• 2 Days Ago - 2025-11-17 09:43:00

A long-running standoff between the City of Windhoek and the urban and rural development ministry has resulted in the loss of the capital’s entire N$750 million allocation for informal settlement upgrading.
The setback has derailed key deadlines, forced government to redirect funds and left thousands of residents in limbo.
In a letter issued on Friday by the Khomas regional governor’s office, government said it had expected the funding to kickstart one of Namibia’s most ambitious housing and land-servicing initiatives.
“The funding was earmarked for land servicing and the upgrading and formalisation of informal settlements projects in the Samora Machel, Khomasdal, Tobias Hainyeko Constituency, Moses //Garoëb and the Windhoek Rural Constituencies,” the letter read.
“The Municipal Council was expected to formalise 16 townships, provide 5 000 serviced erven, 5 000 affordable housing units and 250 community ablution facilities,” the letter outlined.
The ministry noted that 60% of the work should have been completed by 12 September and full execution by February next year.
However, despite receiving a formal allocation letter on 30 May, the City reportedly did not accept the funds and the money was subsequently “reallocated to other local authorities that had presented their building plans and formally accepted the ministry’s conditions”.
The letter noted further that during a meeting on 20 August, minister of urban and rural development Sankwasa James Sankwasa, along with Windhoek councillors and executives, it was “revealed that the municipal council had not yet accepted the allocated funds” and that the management committee “was still deliberating on the allocation and conditions set by the ministry.
The governor’s office highlighted that at the time, the management committee had also not yet recommended the appointment and allocation of funding to council for resolution.
Frustrating back and forth
The meeting followed earlier concerns raised by the ministry.
At the time, ministry executive director Dr Wilhelmine Shivute warned that Windhoek had repeatedly missed deadlines and failed to attend scheduled monthly meetings on 18 June, 16 July and 20 August.
She said the City ignored follow-up letters issued on 13 June, 16 July, and 19 August and was still waiting for a response.
The ministry stressed that funds are only disbursed upon submission of invoices and performance, a system well understood by other municipalities participating in the programme.
Because Windhoek did not meet compliance conditions, government reallocated the money to “responsive” local authorities who had accepted the terms and submitted their building plans.
N$255m initial cut
On 18 August, Sankwasa convened a meeting during which he reduced the original N$750 million allocation by N$255 million, citing Windhoek’s “non-cooperation and lethargy”.
The ministry said the cut, representing 34%, would be channelled to other local authorities that were making progress.
Shivute confirmed that the City had been instructed to submit an implementation plan for the balance of N$495 million by 22 August.
“This has not been done by the council to date,” she confirmed at the time.
However, Windhoek mayor Ndeshihafela Larandja previously rejected the suggestion that funds were ever genuinely available to the City.
“The conditions attached are never realistic and shall never be realistic at all,” she told this publication during a previous interview. “And we don’t want this to go to the public. There are some things there, there’s always professional secrecy. And we wanted to keep this as professional secrecy.”
Larandja argued further that informal settlement upgrading should not be treated as an emergency.
“When you are treating something as an emergency, you bypass some processes. In the future, these infrastructures will become a problem for the City. These poor people will again suffer the consequences.”
City CEO Moses Matyayi declined to comment on the matter yesterday.
City informal upgrade planning
Khomas governor Sam Nujoma, who earlier this year was tasked with coordinating the implementation plan for the upgrading and formalisation of informal settlements, intervened on 19 August after meeting with Sankwasa.
He demanded clarity on how Windhoek planned to achieve the required 60% execution rate by 12 September, warning that losing funds earmarked for improving living conditions in the region’s most vulnerable communities was “intolerable”.
Despite the funding collapse, the City has reported progress on previously approved projects, according to the governor’s letter last week.
“The municipal council informed the governor’s office that the council has already approved several procurement exemptions from the Ministry of Finance’s policy unit on 20 August 2025 to fast-track informal settlement development projects,” the letter read.
“This was quite crucial, as most projects are of high value, as servicing a typical extension of 300 erven costing is valued at N$100 million.”
According to the update, Windhoek serviced 2 132 erven this year across Goreangab Extension 4 (Phase 2), Havana Extensions 8 and 11, Mix Settlement, Kapuka Nuuyala, Otjomuise Extension 4 and Groot Aub.
These sites are expected to support the construction of an estimated 2 800 housing units.
The letter noted that the municipality has embarked on several procurement initiatives and successfully managed to put six procurement bids ranging from consultancy services to construction into the market with a total value of N$900 million.
However, these figures fall well short of the original target of 5 000 serviced erven and 5 000 houses, which were tied to the now-lost N$750 million.
The Office of the Governor described the situation as “deeply concerning”, noting that delays “in turn delay the awarding of construction contracts to complete the servicing of erven”.
Nujoma reaffirmed his role as the central government’s regional representative, saying: “We will continue to demand urgency in the implementation of projects that restore dignity to the undignified living conditions of the majority of our citizens.”