City mulls N$100 charge for informal settlers

The City of Windhoek plans to charge informal settlement residents who hold occupation certificates at least N$100 to fund infrastructure in their communities, but has not said whether the fee will be monthly, annual or once-off or when collections would kick off.

City chief executive Moses Matyayi told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that nearly 29 000 residents had received occupation certificates.

“In the informal settlement, what we are saying is that with this occupation, with this certificate of occupation, we will be charging you at least $100,” Matyayi said.

Matyayi said the money would be reinvested in infrastructure development.

He explained that the certificates allow residents to begin building on their plots once land planning arrangements are approved.

The arrangement provides security of tenure but presents financial challenges because many properties have not been formally registered, preventing the municipality from collecting conventional property rates and certain service charges.

Matyayi said statutory property charges could only be imposed once land had been properly planned, registered and allocated an erf number.

The municipality is also considering reinvesting revenue from electricity purchases in informal settlements into roads, water and sewerage infrastructure as part of a long-term strategy to improve service delivery and financial sustainability.

N$221m deficit

Matyayi disclosed that Windhoek recorded a deficit of approximately N$221 million in 2025 after accounting for depreciation, reversing a N$66 million surplus achieved in 2024.

The municipality had previously recorded a deficit of N$482 million in 2021, when its financial position had deteriorated to the extent that commercial banks were reluctant to provide financing.

He said the City subsequently introduced audits, expenditure controls, internal process improvements and measures to ensure that residents and businesses were billed correctly.

“Today, banks are pursuing us to say we can see there is good liquidity,” Matyayi said.

He explained that the municipality had moved from a financial rescue phase into a period of stability, although increasing revenue had not eliminated the gap between income and expenditure.

N$145m road maintenance shortfall

Windhoek is also considering introducing a road-user fee.

“We might be able to actually now tax the cars that are driving on our roads so that we can maintain the roads on which they drive,” he said.

“We require about N$190 million for us to just do preventative maintenance on your roads,” Matyayi told the committee.

The municipality previously received N$15 million from the Road Fund Administration, but negotiations resulted in the allocation increasing to N$45 million.

The proposed vehicle charge remains under discussion, with no levy amount or implementation date announced.

Matyayi explained that unlike electricity and water, which generate revenue through consumption charges, roads require substantial maintenance expenditure without providing the municipality with a comparable direct income stream.

Essential services drain revenue

The financial pressure extends to other municipal operations, with Windhoek relying on electricity and water revenue to subsidise services that cannot recover their operating costs.

Matyayi said the municipality spends approximately N$70 million on its bus service but collects only N$10 million from passengers, leaving a N$60 million difference financed through other municipal revenue.

The City Police also depends on municipal revenue because it receives no direct subsidy from central government, while most traffic fines collected by its officers accrue to the government rather than the municipality.

Matyayi said Windhoek was discussing possible government financial support for City Police.

Firefighting services have similarly required financial support, having historically been provided without direct charges to residents until the municipality introduced a fire brigade fee in 2020 to recover some operating costs.

The City manages assets estimated at N$30 billion and an annual budget of approximately N$6 billion, including about N$1 billion for capital development.