Oshikuku Town Council handed over 23 erven to residents who belong to the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN).
At the event in Oshikuku on 19 April 2024, the Mayor of Oshikuku Mrs Julia Endjambi said that a decent housing unit “is a basic human need that needs to be met for one to be dignified.”
For this reason, “during 2023, Council facilitated the handing over of 13 houses to members of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia by the Minister of Urban and Rural Development.
“To date Council has allocated 62 erven to SDFN in addition to the ones being handed over today, and all have been developed, completed and inhabited.”
Although the Council is committed to avail affordable land to meet the need of providing dignified housing for its residents, Endjambi said that the Council is faced with numerous challenges to do so.
“Amongst others, these include unavailability of land for Council to service, limited financial resources to service land when available at affordable cost, shortage of internal capacity to meet the demand of land delivery targets, and high input cost of land servicing.
“Regardless of those challenges, Council will continue to strive to avail land to all segments of our society,” Endjambi said.
Endjambi thanked the recipients of the serviced land for their patience.
“Now that you have been allocated this erven, we urge you to develop them within the permitted timeframe in order to provide your family with a roof over their heads.
“Furthermore, we urge you to pay off your plots on time and continue honouring your municipal bills in order for Council to have funds to service more erven and be able to allocate such to your fellows who were not fortunate as you this time around.
“Council heavily depends on your loyalty and continued support for it to succeed in the execution of its mandates and to be able to provide the services as expected by all of you.”
The 23 residents received their land allocation letters, each for a plot costing N$7,900 which must be paid within nine months. The letter also states that the house must be constructed within the next 12 months.
In the photo: Oshikuku Mayor Julia Endjambi and her councilors handing over a land allocation letter to Martha Kambandja.
