Windhoek Council on forced removal

Agnes Kafula, Mayor of Windhoek opened this year’s second council meeting last week by saying it is important for the Councillors to work together because it is only through teamwork that they will be able to achieve the goals and objectives that they have set for themselves for this year.
Hon. Kafula added that the Khomas Region and Windhoek in particular is experiencing a Cholera outbreak and to date 38 suspected cases have been recorded by the Windhoek Central and Katutura Hospitals with three confirmed cases. The City of Windhoek together with the Ministry of Health and Social Services and other stake holders, have thus far contributed to the provision of decontamination agents for use at Cholera Treatment Centres, as well as the provision of sanitation facilities, water containers and an ambulance stand-by services, solely for the transportation of cholera related cases.

The City of Windhoek also initiated the open markets development programme in different suburbs within the city. “The open markets provide a suitable and safe trading area that can be utilised and enjoyed by the traders and the community. The City has made provision for a total of sixteen open markets and has also allocated unimproved trading sites on a temporary basis to regulate trading and maintain acceptable hygiene and safety standards.
The Mayor said Windhoek is faced with continuous proliferation of informal settlement and land invasions, explaining that most of these informal settlements makes service delivery and planning by the City very difficult. “It was therefore [the reason] why cases were and are still referred to the Office of the Legal Services Division in the office of the CEO, to ensure compliance with city laws with regard to illegal land invasion. Hon Kafula referred to media eports on the mass demolition of illegal structures on the outskirts of some suburbs in Windhoek. She assures all stakeholders and the law abiding citizens that the removal of illegal shacks will be done within the national legal framework.