Residents accuse Okahandja council of neglecting Ekunde upgrade project

Anger and frustration are mounting in Okahandja’s Ekunde informal settlement, where residents accuse the municipality of sidelining them in its informal settlement upgrade project that was meant to prioritise their community.Community members told Namibian Sun last week, on condition of anonymity, that the municipality had gone against an earlier commitment to complete Ekunde before working on other informal settlements. Instead, they claim, the neighbouring Five Rand informal settlement was finalised first, leaving them in limbo. The municipality has denied these claims. "The agreement was clear: finish Ekunde first, then move on to Five Rand," residents said recently during an interview. “But suddenly Five Rand was completed ahead of us and most of their tenants already have land,” they claimed. “It feels like a political move,” a resident alleged. “What hurts us most is that people were moved onto rubbish dumps in Ekunde. The municipality did not even clear the waste; they just placed families there to live in unhealthy, unhygienic conditions,” another resident said. Work underway, not completed However, the municipality disputes residents’ claims, saying demarcation in Five Rand has not yet been completed.Officials said replanning and realignment of the layout are still in progress, with problems such as the uncontrolled movement of structures and land grabbing causing delays.“The surveyor has pegged the area, and further adjustments are being finalised before work continues,” Okahandja spokesperson Master Penna said this week. Penna added that while there is no fixed completion date for Phase 1 of the Ekunde upgrade project, the target is to finish by the end of 2025 before moving on to Phase 2. According to the municipality, progress stands at 90% in Ekunde 1, 70% in Ekunde 2, 65% in Ekunde 3 and 95% in Ekunde 6. Officials said each block faces distinct challenges that affect progress differently.Delays The council added that some tasks, such as relocating structures to allocated erven, fall outside its direct control and blamed the slow progress on “political interference, activism and the circulation of misinformation.”Responding to complaints from residents still occupying public open spaces, the municipality said some may remain if those areas are rezoned for residential use.Others have already been relocated to available erven in different blocks. However, it warned that those refusing to move are delaying overall progress.“For development to take place and for services to be provided, the community must adapt to necessary changes,” the municipality stressed, adding that adjustments are essential to create a liveable and serviced environment.On the N$165 fee paid by tenants, the municipality stressed that the contribution is not a purchase price but a pegging fee. The council added that illegal land sales within the community are also placing serious pressure on the supply of erven.List of concerns Among their list of concerns, Ekunde residents say services promised for July have yet to materialise and that despite assurances that land would be allocated by the end of June, large parts of Ekunde, including Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 6, remain only partially serviced.“This is not just mismanagement, it is a betrayal,” one resident said. “We are being treated like we do not matter.”The upcoming elections, moreover, have heightened fears that the project could stall.“If a new council comes in, they won’t know what has been done or where to continue. Everything might just collapse,” a worried community member said. Residents also allege violations of planning standards, claiming that public open spaces intended to be near rivers and water sources are instead being placed between houses.aurelia@nmh-hub.com.na

Residents accuse Okahandja council of neglecting Ekunde upgrade project

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-17

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Residents accuse Okahandja council of neglecting Ekunde upgrade project

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-17

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