Impalila Islanders feel left out
The few thousand people living on the small island in the Chobe River say they are cut off from the rest of Namibia and they feel neglected by the government.
For the 3 000 residents of Impalila Island in the Zambezi Region, a single boat is the only transport to Katima Mulilo in case of medical emergency.
According to some residents and community activist Patrick Simaata, the community is virtually isolated from civilisation despite government promises that it will improve their living conditions.
“We have had no doctor since independence. At the medical centre here we have only two nurses; one is Kenyan and the other Namibian. Most of the serious cases must be referred to Katima Mulilo but we do not have a bridge,” he said.
Impalila, an island at the far eastern tip of Namibia, bound on the north by the waters of the Zambezi River and on the south by the Chobe River, forms part of Namibia.
It is home to some 2 500 to 3 000 people in 25 small villages, including Tswanas (from Botswana) and Subia people (from Namibia).
Impalila is usually accessed from Kasane in Botswana, on the other bank of the Chobe River. There is a Namibian customs and immigration post on the island.
Simaata, a paramedic, says the immigration offices at Kasane close at 16:30, which means patients can only travel to Katima Mulilo the next day because the Botswana border police are very strict.
“If a pregnant woman goes to Kasane they will charge her 3 000 pula at the state hospital. In other words, nurses on the island have to improvise, and they do not even have oxygen there. So people just die,” he says.
Simaata says the health ministry is well aware of these problems.
Constituency councillor John Likando says they are left out of the Harambee grand scheme, as pleas for a bridge across the Chobe and Zambezi rivers have fallen on deaf ears.
Namibian Sun caught up with him at the Kasane immigration office in Botswana.
According to Likando, maize for the school feeding programme is also transported from Namibia through Botswana and then loaded onto small boats to go to Impalila.
“It is a problem because they bring the food for the whole term so halfway through the term some of the food has expired,” he says.
According to him, nobody in the government is prepared to take responsibility for this state of affairs.
He says there is a boat that is only used by the Office of the Prime Minister for disaster relief.
“It came here as a means of river transport but people have no access to it,” he said.
Hardship
Priscilla Silobe, who takes a boat taxi every second day to buy groceries at the Botswana border town of Kasane, says elephants trample their maize fields, which produce their staple food. She also keeps a few cattle on the island.
The community say they need a market where they can sell their produce on the island because at the moment they must transport their produce to Katima Mulilo or Kasane to sell it there.
Kasane is the main shopping destination for Namibians from Impalila Island.
People cross the river daily to buy basic necessities such as bread, maize meal or over-the-counter medicine.
Dominique Sitengu, who runs a boat taxi, says they depend on Botswana for everything. She charges N$10 for a single boat trip.
One of the boat passengers, Kaliki Ngonga, complains that they are treated “worse than beggars” because while they are on their way to Katima Mulilo the boat would dock at Kasane for hours.
“I am a fisherman and a farmer so I need to come in to sell my fish or my meat in Katima Mulilo. Some days I may not have taken my passport and then the taxi decides to stop at Kasane, which puts me in trouble because the officials at the checkpoint - which is on the edge of the river - will arrest me as an illegal immigrant,” he says.
The health ministry undertook to respond to Namibian Sun's enquiries but these were not received by the time of going to press.
*Namibian Sun journalist Jemima Beukes was in Kasane, Botswana, on invitation by SADC in partnership with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. She joined journalists from Namibia, Botswana and Zambia on a tour to the Kazangula Bridge between Botswana and Zambia.
JEMIMA BEUKES
According to some residents and community activist Patrick Simaata, the community is virtually isolated from civilisation despite government promises that it will improve their living conditions.
“We have had no doctor since independence. At the medical centre here we have only two nurses; one is Kenyan and the other Namibian. Most of the serious cases must be referred to Katima Mulilo but we do not have a bridge,” he said.
Impalila, an island at the far eastern tip of Namibia, bound on the north by the waters of the Zambezi River and on the south by the Chobe River, forms part of Namibia.
It is home to some 2 500 to 3 000 people in 25 small villages, including Tswanas (from Botswana) and Subia people (from Namibia).
Impalila is usually accessed from Kasane in Botswana, on the other bank of the Chobe River. There is a Namibian customs and immigration post on the island.
Simaata, a paramedic, says the immigration offices at Kasane close at 16:30, which means patients can only travel to Katima Mulilo the next day because the Botswana border police are very strict.
“If a pregnant woman goes to Kasane they will charge her 3 000 pula at the state hospital. In other words, nurses on the island have to improvise, and they do not even have oxygen there. So people just die,” he says.
Simaata says the health ministry is well aware of these problems.
Constituency councillor John Likando says they are left out of the Harambee grand scheme, as pleas for a bridge across the Chobe and Zambezi rivers have fallen on deaf ears.
Namibian Sun caught up with him at the Kasane immigration office in Botswana.
According to Likando, maize for the school feeding programme is also transported from Namibia through Botswana and then loaded onto small boats to go to Impalila.
“It is a problem because they bring the food for the whole term so halfway through the term some of the food has expired,” he says.
According to him, nobody in the government is prepared to take responsibility for this state of affairs.
He says there is a boat that is only used by the Office of the Prime Minister for disaster relief.
“It came here as a means of river transport but people have no access to it,” he said.
Hardship
Priscilla Silobe, who takes a boat taxi every second day to buy groceries at the Botswana border town of Kasane, says elephants trample their maize fields, which produce their staple food. She also keeps a few cattle on the island.
The community say they need a market where they can sell their produce on the island because at the moment they must transport their produce to Katima Mulilo or Kasane to sell it there.
Kasane is the main shopping destination for Namibians from Impalila Island.
People cross the river daily to buy basic necessities such as bread, maize meal or over-the-counter medicine.
Dominique Sitengu, who runs a boat taxi, says they depend on Botswana for everything. She charges N$10 for a single boat trip.
One of the boat passengers, Kaliki Ngonga, complains that they are treated “worse than beggars” because while they are on their way to Katima Mulilo the boat would dock at Kasane for hours.
“I am a fisherman and a farmer so I need to come in to sell my fish or my meat in Katima Mulilo. Some days I may not have taken my passport and then the taxi decides to stop at Kasane, which puts me in trouble because the officials at the checkpoint - which is on the edge of the river - will arrest me as an illegal immigrant,” he says.
The health ministry undertook to respond to Namibian Sun's enquiries but these were not received by the time of going to press.
*Namibian Sun journalist Jemima Beukes was in Kasane, Botswana, on invitation by SADC in partnership with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. She joined journalists from Namibia, Botswana and Zambia on a tour to the Kazangula Bridge between Botswana and Zambia.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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