Festering cesspool

The town centre of Opuwo, the capital of the Kunene Region, is a festering cesspool of filth, unhygienic slaughterhouses and lawlessness. The Epupa informal open market not only sells counterfeit products, but also houses illegal food and liquor traders in the heart of the town which attracts many tourists. The area is very dirty. The market, situated behind the NDC Complex and Agra retail outlet, has stalls made of discarded cardboard boxes and plastic containers and there is no water, toilets or electricity. According to the regional police commander, Commissioner James Nderura, the market is a hub of illegal and counterfeit products. He says the popular 'ombike' homebrew sold at the market could be dangerous because the vendors do not follow the traditional recipe and nobody regulates the ingredients. “The business at the open market is a concern to the police. We frequently confiscate counterfeit products such as cigarettes and other products during our ad hoc operations,” Nderura says. The vendors claim they are generating an income and have no alternative. When Namibian Sun visited Opuwo last week, one of the ombike vendors, Ester Kasita, said she had been selling ombike and another homebrew called 'otjikariha' for the past 15 years. Kasita refused to disclose the ingredients she uses. “We are making a lot of money. People here enjoy drinking ombike and otjikariha. We sell these drinks in different sized containers and business is going very well,” Kasita said. Commissioner Nderura, however, is worried about the ombike and otjikariha sold at the market. “These products are the most challenging thing we have to deal with in Opuwo. We have noticed that the way this ombike is brewed and prepared is not the same as how it is done traditionally by the Aawambo. “This version is made out of old clothes, tyres and other items, making it dangerous for human consumption. During our last operation we took samples for laboratory testing at our district hospital but unfortunately we have not received results yet,” Nderura said. Filthy Kasita said neither the vendors nor the customers cared how the place looks. “We are aware that the place is dirty but that does not stop customers from coming. You will always find this place full of customers and vendors conducting business. The only things we need are toilets and water,” Kasita said. She said the only time business becomes a challenge is during the rainy season. “We do not see people from the ministry of health visiting us, only during those years when it was reported that there was cholera,” she said. Another vendor, Tjalimbwa Kavari, said Opuwo residents decided to establish the informal market because the town council had failed to create a formal market. “We are here on our own and some of us have been operating here for many, many years. There are no services. We have no water, toilets, electricity or even rubbish bins. Those selling food are exposed to dirt and germs but we are doing this to survive as there is no other place to go,” Kavari said. Kavari said vendors and customers alike relieve themselves behind the stalls. Unregulated butchers slaughter animals such as cattle, goats and pigs right there at the market. With no running water or drains, pools of blood and carcasses lying in the open attract scavenging dogs and flies. One butcher, Epson Kauta, said there were no regulations regarding the slaughter of livestock in town. He said they did the slaughtering at the market and sold the meat to vendors who, in turn, traded either in the streets or at the market. The manager at Agra, Gert Scholtz, said the business community had asked the town council to relocate the open market but that never happened. He added that the place harms the image of Opuwo. “A lot of criminal activities such as burglaries at businesses are on the rise in Opuwo. While we are not saying the people at the open market are responsible, the chaos of the place makes it very difficult to control the movement of people. The council told us they had identified a new place for the open market, but no relocation has ever taken place.” Officials and politicians of the town refused to comment. Martin Edward, the acting CEO who is also the council's financial manager, would not comment, saying he had been in the CEO position for only three months. The town's mayor, Albert Tjiuma, did not respond to enquiries sent to him. In an interview with Namibian Sun in December 2016 after his re-election, Tjiuma promised that his council's main priority for the coming year [2017] was to clean up the town. He said the aim was to make sure that the town looked neat and was able to attract investors. Regional health inspector Barbara Kahiha too refused to comment on the health hazards posed by the informal market. Regulations pertaining to urban slaughtering fall under the mandate of the health ministry.The newly appointed Kunene governor, Marius Sheya, could not be reached for comment. He was on a familiarisation tour of the region and was not reachable by cellphone.ILENI NANDJATO

Festering cesspool

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Namibian Sun 2025-11-05

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Festering cesspool

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Namibian Sun 2025-11-05

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