Frustration, anger at Hoachanas

Hoachanas residents are fed up with the Hardap regional council and have broken the locks of the half-completed toilets at the settlement.They said a dozen elderly people are being “held prisoner” in their homes by a three-metre-wide sewer line that has been under construction for the past five years. According to community activist Dawid Gurubeb their pleas to the regional council for a meeting to discuss their problems have fallen on deaf ears over the last two years.A community meeting had been called by constituency councillor Simon Dukuleni on Friday, but was cancelled at the last minute. “He did not even have the decency to call us personally. We heard about the cancellation of the meeting over the Kaisames FM radio station,” said Gurubeb. Pensioner Sylvestor Marau and his wife Susanna live in a one-room shack with no water connection, even though they paid the connection fee five years ago. “We are begging water from other people around here,” Marau said.They also cannot make use of a toilet, because it has not been officially handed over by the council. Their mobility is limited because the three-metre-wide ditch for the sewer line runs right in front of their gate, making it impossible for a car to park there or a person to walk in.“When we get sick, which happens often, we must climb through the fence,” said Sylvester.He added that it is always a struggle because the holes in the fence are not big enough and they are both very frail. Just three houses away from them lives an elderly woman who walks with a walker who has to be transported to the bucket toilet in a wheelbarrow. “I broke the lock of this toilet in my yard. Why must I struggle like this when I can use the toilet? Our people do not have toilets, we only have shacks,” she said. At times she must crawl to the bucket toilet because there is not always someone to help her. She is also confined to her yard because of the sewer line and cannot even go to the clinic unless someone assists her. Axab Skrywer, the acting deputy director for administration in the Hardap regional council, promised that a meeting would be held today. He said the council had received numerous petitions from the community and would give feedback on their complaints today. He could not say why development projects such as the allocation of plots, the completion of toilets and the sewer line have not been completed yet.“We have done phases one, two and three. Tomorrow we will go there with the planners who will explain everything,” he said.According to him it took them so long to return to the community because they needed to consult with politicians first. Constituency councillor Simon Dukuleni was not reachable on his phone.JEMIMA BEUKES

Frustration, anger at Hoachanas

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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Frustration, anger at Hoachanas

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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