Food Bank reaches 95 000 in Khomas
The Food Bank programme that was launched in Windhoek last July was one of the Khomas Region's most noteworthy achievements of the year.
Close to 95 000 individuals – or 22 354 households – have been benefiting from the Food Bank programme in the Khomas Region since its launch in July last year.
Khomas regional governor Laura McLeod-Katjirua listed these numbers while highlighting the achievements and challenges facing the Khomas Region at a Swapo event attended by President Hage Geingob on Monday.
She told the assembled guests and Swapo leaders that the region was “politically, economically, environmentally and socially healthy and stable”.
When the Food Bank programme was launched in July 2016, 27 500 people from 4 816 households were handed food parcels.
McLeod-Katjirua said the programme had since been introduced in seven constituencies.
The process started in the Tobias Hainyeko and Samora Machel constituencies, followed by the Moses Garoeb, John Pandeni, Katutura East, Katutura Central and Khomasdal constituencies.
The governor added that the 117 street committees that were trained to help identify impoverished families in need of assistance, and to assist with food distribution, were active in all seven areas.
Under the pilot programme, households earning less than N$400 a month qualify for food parcels. At the launch last year, the parcels were valued at N$500, containing maize meal, cooking oil, tinned fish, corned meat, beans, yeast, bread flour, sugar and soap.
McLeod-Katjirua told the Khomas leadership that drought-relief food had been distributed to 2 656 households in the Windhoek Rural Constituency to date.
The governor added that 120 temporary jobs were created under the food-for-work programmes.
Other achievements listed by the governor included the construction of 46 classrooms in the region in 2016. Twenty-six classrooms are still under construction at the Tobias Hainyeko Primary Project School and Elim Primary School. They were expected to be completed by March, she said.
Construction of a kitchen in Khomasdal for the school feeding scheme is expected to be completed by 10 March, while school renovations are continuing.
Teachers' flats are being built at three schools, while hostels and other education facilities are being renovated.
On the health front, more than 22 000 people were tested for HIV through the HIV counselling and testing services that were set up at health facilities in the region last year, she said.
More than 116 000 people are currently receiving HIV treatment in the region.
With the introduction of male circumcision services, 19 659 men were circumcised in the region last year.
Besides the successes, the governor said challenges remained, including a shortage of serviced land for residential, school and hospital purposes.
Ageing facilities, including school hostels and health facilities, as well as worn-out sewage systems and underground water pipes also pose challenges.
Informal settlements, plagued by a lack of basic services, are mushrooming due to an influx of people from rural areas.
Other problems were the illegal occupation of land earmarked for schools and hospitals; the eviction of farmworkers and a lack of land to resettle them; government schools located on private farms; and high levels of unemployment, crime and alcohol abuse.
The governor said the slow pace of maintenance of schools, clinics and hospitals remained a challenge, and on the education front a lack of examination venues and a lack of space for learners in grades one to eight remained a problem.
Included in a list of recommendations, McLeod-Katjirua proposed the construction of new schools, clinics and hospitals and increased funding for maintenance and acquisition of land for schools and hospitals.
She proposed the construction of an examination hall and a multi-purpose centre.
McLeod-Katjirua furthermore proposed to relocate illegal occupants from institutional land. Moreover she suggested the “expropriation of farms where government schools are located or acquiring of that designated land where the schools are located.”
She said capital projects should be prioritised and the land delivery process should be expedited.
Among other suggestions, the governor said new technology to extract water should be explored, police visibility should be increased, and proper control should be exercised over the operating hours of shebeens and issuing of licences for new ones.
JANA-MARI SMITH
Khomas regional governor Laura McLeod-Katjirua listed these numbers while highlighting the achievements and challenges facing the Khomas Region at a Swapo event attended by President Hage Geingob on Monday.
She told the assembled guests and Swapo leaders that the region was “politically, economically, environmentally and socially healthy and stable”.
When the Food Bank programme was launched in July 2016, 27 500 people from 4 816 households were handed food parcels.
McLeod-Katjirua said the programme had since been introduced in seven constituencies.
The process started in the Tobias Hainyeko and Samora Machel constituencies, followed by the Moses Garoeb, John Pandeni, Katutura East, Katutura Central and Khomasdal constituencies.
The governor added that the 117 street committees that were trained to help identify impoverished families in need of assistance, and to assist with food distribution, were active in all seven areas.
Under the pilot programme, households earning less than N$400 a month qualify for food parcels. At the launch last year, the parcels were valued at N$500, containing maize meal, cooking oil, tinned fish, corned meat, beans, yeast, bread flour, sugar and soap.
McLeod-Katjirua told the Khomas leadership that drought-relief food had been distributed to 2 656 households in the Windhoek Rural Constituency to date.
The governor added that 120 temporary jobs were created under the food-for-work programmes.
Other achievements listed by the governor included the construction of 46 classrooms in the region in 2016. Twenty-six classrooms are still under construction at the Tobias Hainyeko Primary Project School and Elim Primary School. They were expected to be completed by March, she said.
Construction of a kitchen in Khomasdal for the school feeding scheme is expected to be completed by 10 March, while school renovations are continuing.
Teachers' flats are being built at three schools, while hostels and other education facilities are being renovated.
On the health front, more than 22 000 people were tested for HIV through the HIV counselling and testing services that were set up at health facilities in the region last year, she said.
More than 116 000 people are currently receiving HIV treatment in the region.
With the introduction of male circumcision services, 19 659 men were circumcised in the region last year.
Besides the successes, the governor said challenges remained, including a shortage of serviced land for residential, school and hospital purposes.
Ageing facilities, including school hostels and health facilities, as well as worn-out sewage systems and underground water pipes also pose challenges.
Informal settlements, plagued by a lack of basic services, are mushrooming due to an influx of people from rural areas.
Other problems were the illegal occupation of land earmarked for schools and hospitals; the eviction of farmworkers and a lack of land to resettle them; government schools located on private farms; and high levels of unemployment, crime and alcohol abuse.
The governor said the slow pace of maintenance of schools, clinics and hospitals remained a challenge, and on the education front a lack of examination venues and a lack of space for learners in grades one to eight remained a problem.
Included in a list of recommendations, McLeod-Katjirua proposed the construction of new schools, clinics and hospitals and increased funding for maintenance and acquisition of land for schools and hospitals.
She proposed the construction of an examination hall and a multi-purpose centre.
McLeod-Katjirua furthermore proposed to relocate illegal occupants from institutional land. Moreover she suggested the “expropriation of farms where government schools are located or acquiring of that designated land where the schools are located.”
She said capital projects should be prioritised and the land delivery process should be expedited.
Among other suggestions, the governor said new technology to extract water should be explored, police visibility should be increased, and proper control should be exercised over the operating hours of shebeens and issuing of licences for new ones.
JANA-MARI SMITH
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