Urban migration tests City's limits

The huge influx of people to Windhoek is a concern and the City of Windhoek cannot sit idle and watch the capital descend into anarchy, Mayor Muesee Kazapua said last week.Kazapua said the City was cognisant of the pressing need for land and housing in Windhoek. He said the city councillors and municipality would do everything in their power to accelerate shelter for the needy and to ensure that Windhoek developed in an orderly fashion. “As the mayor of this city, I would like to use this opportunity to call upon the residents of Windhoek to desist from taking the law into their own hands and cooperate with the council in the implementation of the ongoing programmes on housing,” he stressed. He also called for the prudent use of water in the absence of good rains and bemoaned the growing trend of illegal traders in the city centre. “Our statistics show growth of 191% [increase in illegal traders], which represents an increase from 33 illegal traders in 2016 to 93 cases to date,” he said. Many traders Namibian Sun spoke to said they had no other option but to set up shop where there is traffic to sell food, sweets and fruit to earn an income. When they were removed by the City Police, they had nowhere else to go to make a living, they said.Land delivery, provision of affordable housing and the creation of liveable and hygienic conditions top the City's agenda for the year.Kazapua said that could be achieved if the City worked with “zeal and diligence”.“The onus is therefore upon us as elected councillors and management to ensure that we live up to our promise,” said Kazapua. The unimpeded growth of informal settlements has been making headlines since November last year, when a new book predicted that two million people would live in 500 000 shacks in urban areas in the country by 2030. The authors of 'Informal Settlements in Namibia: Their Nature and Growth', John Mendelsohn and Beat Weber, wrote that affordable land, instead of houses, was the key to success in this regard.One of seven detailed recommendations is that “government and local authorities should supply land with a minimum of cost and at maximum speed”. The authors say residents should build their own houses at their own pace, with minimum obstacles and maximum encouragement.The authors add that the provision of low-cost urban land can be done on a cost-recovery basis, as detailed in the book, and that this would attract the private sector to support these initiatives.In 1991, 86% of Namibia's homes were formal brick houses, compared to 12% shacks. In 2001, 77% of homes were formal brick structures while 21% were shacks. The 2011 figures showed that shacks had increased to 32%, with formal brick houses reduced to 32% of all homes in Namibia.Growing fastBy 2023, it is estimated that urban shacks will outnumber all rural houses. By 2025 they will outnumber all formal urban brick houses, making shacks the predominant housing type in Namibia.It is estimated that around 12 000 shacks are built annually in Namibia, and that urban growth is mainly fuelled by the rapid expansion of informal settlements.The authors warn that the “economic, social and environmental costs of informal growth and unplanned urban development are huge for Namibia as a country and as a society.”It is estimated that in 2011, almost 380 000 urban (excluding rural) residents had no access to toilet facilities. Mendelsohn estimated that by now that figure could stand at 600 000. An outbreak of hepatitis E last year, along with a case of cholera reported last week, was seen by experts as a direct outflow of lack of hygiene in the informal settlements. Three people have so far died of hepatitis E and a few are being treated for the disease at the Katutura State Hospital. Just under 600 cases have been reported, most of them in the Havana informal settlement.Sharing its strategic plans for the year last week, the City said around 120 new toilets would be built and pipelines laid for the supply of fresh water to informal settlements. Around N$17 million has been made available by the City to contain the outbreak of these diseases until June this year.– Additional reporting by Nampa STAFF REPORTER

Urban migration tests City's limits

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-26

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Urban migration tests City's limits

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-26

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