Govt shaken by San exposé

ILENI NANDJATO



The deputy director of the Marginalised Community Division in the Office of the Vice-President, Gerson Kamatuka, has acknowledged that San communities in Ohangwena are suffering because the division does not have a regional development planner.

Kamatuka visited the Omundaungilo San community on Monday, after Namibian Sun reported on horrific living conditions there. Some of the 900 people at the settlement do not leave their makeshift rag tents, which they call home, for months due to old age, blindness or chronic illness. Many of the elders and children do not receive pensions or social grants from the government and the community lives in total isolation from the rest of the world.

Last Friday, Namibian Sun published another report on a failed government housing programme for San communities at two villages in the Okongo Constituency of the Ohangwena Region.

A local village headman was quoted in the article as saying the government had gone ahead with the housing project without taking into account the San’s customs or listening to the advice of traditional leaders. It is taboo for the San to continue living in a building where someone has died. That led to the community abandoning their houses as soon as people died there, leaving behind only those too helpless to move out.

After Monday’s visit, Kamatuka described the living conditions of about 900 San people at Omundaungilo as “unacceptable”.

Following the Namibian Sun article, vice-president Nickey Iyambo ordered Kamatuka and the deputy minister in the presidency responsible for marginalised people, Royal /Ui/o/oo, to go and assess the situation.

While on their way, /Ui/o/oo was called back to attend an urgent meeting in Windhoek. However, Kamatuka, Ohangwena governor Usko Nghaamwa, the regional councillor for Omundaungilo, Festus Ikanda and several regional council officials, accompanied by journalists, went ahead with the visit.

When Namibian Sun first visited the Omundaungilo settlement on 15 February there were ten destitute elderly people and 12 ailing young people living in the government houses abandoned by the rest of the community. By Monday, one of the elders had died.

“San communities in other regions have improved and that is why our office could not believe the newspaper article. That is why the vice-president sent us here to see for ourselves. However, we found everything as reported and it is a very sad situation. Their living conditions are unacceptable. We are thankful to Namibian Sun for introducing this community to the world,” Kamatuka said.

Kamatuka said since independence the government had made several efforts, including affirmative action and black empowerment, to uplift the San people but it was to no avail.

“We are going to do a proper consultation through the regional councillor’s office. Every time we are visiting the San people they tell us different ideas. They sometimes support what we intend to do for them, but later it will not work for them.

“For Omundaungilo we are going to conduct several follow-ups and we are going to take action slowly based on the outcome. I am promise you that the time will come when Omundaungilo will be a better place,” Kamatuka promised.

The Ekoka village headman, Fillemon Mwapangasha, had told Namibian Sun that there were no “caretakers” in the San villages to look after the people’s welfare.

Namibian Sun subsequently learned that there is no adviser on San affairs in the whole Ohangwena Region.

In other regions the Office of the Vice-President has regional development planners responsible for marginalised people. They integrate the needs of the marginalised people into the national development plan.

“It is true that we do not have a development planner responsible for San people’s needs in Ohangwena, but soon we will have one. We are only waiting for the Public Service Commission to approve our new structure. Only Ohangwena and Kavango East and West regions are without regional development planners to take care of marginalised people,” Kamatuka said.

Nghaamwa told Kamatuka that the San people, who still have a largely nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle, needed to be educated in order to integrate them into modern society. He said they were being exploited by people who offered them employment.

“Their children need to be educated so that they can live a better future, while the elders need to be educated on their rights. They are being given ‘otombo’ [homebrew] as payment. We need community members around these people to respect the San people as they respect themselves,” Nghaamwa said.

Regional councillor Festus Ikanda reported to Kamatuka that the Omundaungilo San community leader, Casada Amupolo, was a member of the constituency development committee, which discussed development plans for the constituency.

During the officials’ visit it was decided that a kindergarten will be established at Omundaungilo this year still. Cecillia Fillemon, the only community member who has received training from the National Youth Service, was appointed as the kindergarten teacher.

The delegation took along food from the government’s special feeding programme for San people.