Rundu families still waiting for Promised Land
29 July 2020 | Local News
About 23 families who were relocated from Rundu's Sauyemwa Extension 1 in 2018 to an area they now call 'Promised Land' are demanding that the council fulfil its promises.
The families claim that after agreeing to be relocated from Sauyemwa Extension 1, making way for a housing development project, they are now neglected.
They claim the council only demarcated plots for them and never provided them with municipal services.
Acemac Construction is the developer who bought 50 residential erven at Sauyemwa Extension 1 and through a court eviction order managed to get some of the squatters to leave the land they occupied illegally.
Promised Land is near the Sikanduko informal settlement area.
The residents are demanding water, electricity and roads, as they were allegedly promised.
They further want a clinic to be established near them, as the Sauyemwa and Ndama clinics are more than 5 kilometres away.
Water and lights
“We were promised that if we agreed to move from Sauyemwa Extension 1 we would be brought to this area and services such as water, electricity and proper roads would be made available for us, which is not the case two years later,” the group charged.
“Where we were the schools, clinics and shops were nearby but here everything is far for us.
"The roads are bad and taxis don't want to come here because of the bad roads.
“We demand that council fulfil its promises and give us the services we deserve as citizens of this country.”
Some of the residents at Promised Land say they collect contaminated water from a nearby pond.
The group also demanded lighting.
“It is very dark here and we fear for our young children who are always harassed by strangers who rob them of their belongings and our girls now and tell us that they escaped rape attempts by strangers along the way from and to school,” one parent said.
Transport problems
It was also revealed that there are parents who have to wake up as early as 03:00 to escort their children to Sauyemwa Primary School, wait for their classes to end and then return home with the children.
“Things are not right here and we demand answers from the council,” the group said.
The group also indicated that they have no confidence in the committee that represented them in the negotiations over their relocation from Sauyemwa Extension 1.
The council's acting CEO, Sam Nekaro, denied that the relocated people are without water.
“Number one, the issue of water is not true.
"I am reliably informed that … provision was made for them. The situation of the water was sorted; that is what I was informed. But in terms of roads, we are currently surveying the Sikanduko area together with the GIZ to see what services we can put in,” Nekaro said.
The families claim that after agreeing to be relocated from Sauyemwa Extension 1, making way for a housing development project, they are now neglected.
They claim the council only demarcated plots for them and never provided them with municipal services.
Acemac Construction is the developer who bought 50 residential erven at Sauyemwa Extension 1 and through a court eviction order managed to get some of the squatters to leave the land they occupied illegally.
Promised Land is near the Sikanduko informal settlement area.
The residents are demanding water, electricity and roads, as they were allegedly promised.
They further want a clinic to be established near them, as the Sauyemwa and Ndama clinics are more than 5 kilometres away.
Water and lights
“We were promised that if we agreed to move from Sauyemwa Extension 1 we would be brought to this area and services such as water, electricity and proper roads would be made available for us, which is not the case two years later,” the group charged.
“Where we were the schools, clinics and shops were nearby but here everything is far for us.
"The roads are bad and taxis don't want to come here because of the bad roads.
“We demand that council fulfil its promises and give us the services we deserve as citizens of this country.”
Some of the residents at Promised Land say they collect contaminated water from a nearby pond.
The group also demanded lighting.
“It is very dark here and we fear for our young children who are always harassed by strangers who rob them of their belongings and our girls now and tell us that they escaped rape attempts by strangers along the way from and to school,” one parent said.
Transport problems
It was also revealed that there are parents who have to wake up as early as 03:00 to escort their children to Sauyemwa Primary School, wait for their classes to end and then return home with the children.
“Things are not right here and we demand answers from the council,” the group said.
The group also indicated that they have no confidence in the committee that represented them in the negotiations over their relocation from Sauyemwa Extension 1.
The council's acting CEO, Sam Nekaro, denied that the relocated people are without water.
“Number one, the issue of water is not true.
"I am reliably informed that … provision was made for them. The situation of the water was sorted; that is what I was informed. But in terms of roads, we are currently surveying the Sikanduko area together with the GIZ to see what services we can put in,” Nekaro said.
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