Haulofu blasts southern towns over 'serious' debt

Towns in southern Namibia burdened by huge NamPower debts have themselves to blame because they have failed to pass on money collected from consumers, NamPower managing director Kahenge Haulofu has argued.“We cannot operate a system where one has to pay and another is excused,” he said.Haulofu said huge debts have accumulated over the years among local authorities, regional councils and even government institutions south of Windhoek all the way to the South African border.“Some of them do not pay at all. They sell the electricity, but they keep the money. It is a very serious issue,” he said.According to the long-serving head of the national electricity utility, Namibians pay for their electricity, mines pay and households pay, including poorer households, “but south of Windhoek all the way to the border, what is owed is not passed on,” he said.Regional Electricity Distributors (REDs) pay what they owe NamPower, although there is currently no RED established in southern Namibia, he said.“I spend days writing letters, sending reminders, and even visiting local authorities. I have been to Rehoboth twice. We are helping the town to switch to prepaid electricity. We offer assistance with electricity losses, people stealing electricity and so on. You help today, but at the end of the month you don't see a cent,” Haulofu warned.Rehoboth municipality chief executive officer Ronald Windswaai, however, said he could not understand what Haulofu was referring to or why the NamPower boss would single out Rehoboth.“We were actually the first, since 2024, to be on prepaid electricity,” Windswaai said.The town's total electricity debt has declined from N$247 million to N$204 million, he said.According to Windswaai, money collected is divided, with 90% going towards electricity purchases and 10% allocated to outstanding historical debt. This means there is always a shortfall in paying for current consumption, which stood at N$12 million in May.Nevertheless, Rehoboth municipality met NamPower officials last Tuesday, while another N$1.2 million worth of prepaid electricity was purchased on the morning of 29 September 2026, he said.Debt burdenedBetween servicing the old debt and paying for prepaid electricity, Rehoboth's maintenance has suffered, contributing to a recent three-day electricity outage caused by damaged cables at Block D, Windswaai said.Mariental chief executive officer Paul Nghiwilepo, whose local authority had debts of more than N$233 million by the end of 2025 and was the country's most indebted local authority, acknowledged Haulofu's criticism.“To some extent, it is true. We cannot run away from it,” he said.Mariental had no debt between nine and 10 years ago, but “challenges came, priorities changed, and the debt grew to where it is now," he said.“There was a lot of politics involved,” he added, while acknowledging that “local authorities used revenue for other things."Nghiwilepo explained that between 60% and 64% of Mariental's revenue is collected from electricity, and the council sometimes decides to use that income for other needs.“People are only paying for water now after we introduced prepaid water. They do not pay property taxes; they do not pay for refuse removal. We subsidise the costs, and previously also NamWater,” he said. “That is the situation we are in.”“Now everything is prepaid, and NamPower is considering putting the municipalities

Haulofu blasts southern towns over 'serious' debt

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-01

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Haulofu blasts southern towns over 'serious' debt

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-01

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