Allexer Namundjembo
Vendors at Ekutu Market in Walvis Bay expressed frustration over the municipalityâs slow response to a sewage overflow that flooded the market earlier this week.
The incident was caused by a power outage at the Kuisebmond Sewer Pump Station, which led to raw sewage spilling into the trading area.
The vendors later stepped in to clean up the area.
âThe dirt had been here for days, so we decided to clean up. I thank my fellow vendors for taking this initiative. Now our place is clean,” vendor Moses Shadjanale told the Windhoek Observer.
He urged others to join future cleanup efforts, stressing that the community must take responsibility for its environment.
The Walvis Bay Municipality acknowledged the problem and blamed the overflow on the power outage.
Officials assured residents that efforts were underway to resolve the issue.
Walvis Bay mayor Trevino Forbes said political interference has hampered the municipalityâs work and promised improvements.
Reacting to the Disaster, Community Activist Knowledge Iipinge, said the crisis at Ekutu Market reflected a wider breakdown in Walvis Bayâs infrastructure.
âWe urgently need to transition from the current reactionary approach to more proactive solutions that require innovative thinking beyond the capacity of those currently addressing the issueâ Iipinge said while answering questions sent to him by Windhoek Observer on Wednesday.
He added that the community requires infrastructure upgrades worth about N$350 million, including the adoption of technologies such as membrane bioreactors. He said this would need expert planning rather than âpolitical gimmicks.â
The latest incident comes amid growing concerns about service delivery in Walvis Bay.
In May, the municipality admitted service delivery challenges after residents complained about poor hygiene and the neglect of waste management, sewage systems, and roads.
In June, residents launched a weekend cleanup campaign when municipal refuse trucks broke down and contractors failed to collect rubbish for nearly two weeks.
Local businesses provided equipment for the campaign, and the residents vowed to persist until they cleaned the town.
Earlier this week, the Walvis Bay Youth Forum urged the local authority to act quickly to address what it called âdeteriorating sanitation and environmental conditionsâ in several suburbs.
The community has since called on the ministry of urban and rural development to take over the affairs of the town.
This also resulted in businessman Cobus van Schalkwyk, who earlier had invited the deputy minister of urban and rural development, Evelyn Nawases-Taeyele and Swapo party secretary general Sophia Shaningwa to a meeting attended by Swapo leaders.
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) condemned the meeting, calling it an attempt to undermine its elected leadership in the municipality.
