ABOUT 1 000 people, including beneficiaries of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia, businesses and politicians rolled up their sleeves on Saturday to level the dunes near Narraville to make way for 68 plots for a low-cost housing development.
The participants, who also included children and the elderly, were armed mostly with shovels, but the use of tractors made child’s play of the Namib’s dunes.
Heinrich Amushila, executive member of the SDFN and the Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) said once the earthworks are completed, the construction of the low-cost houses will begin, which will hopefully be next year.
“We have started the process, and will continue until next year. We are so grateful for the companies’ assistance,” he told The Namibian, adding that this was how Namibia would prosper: by working together for the good of all.
“The idea of the exercise is to sensitise our community and private sector to contribute in kind towards affordable land delivery,” he noted.
The SDFN has more than 2 800 members, both at Kuisebmond and Narraville, where 148 houses have already been constructed.
The houses were handed over by President Hage Geingob about two weeks ago.
The groundbreaking ceremony for 100 more houses, funded by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, was also done at Tutaleni on Saturday.
The Walvis Bay municipality allocated 268 plots in 2012, and assisted the federation in completing the plans for the 68 plots at Narraville.
The federation has been working hard towards the provision of affordable land and housing for its members who are from the low-income category, such as general workers, domestic workers and those who earn less than N$4 000 per month.
On a national level, the SDFN’s membership stands at over 23 000. It has savings of N$23 million derived from members’ contributions.
“The savings are used for their members’ own needs. Over 4 000 houses have been constructed in all our regions. First Lady Monica Geingos is the patron of the federation, and government supports us with over N$37 million through the urban development ministry. This has been used to construct 1 659 houses so far,” explained Amushila.
Standard Bank contributed N$3,1 million to build 94 houses, while Ohorongo Cement, FNB and the Pupkewitz Foundation contributed N$6 million to build 175 houses.
Neo Paints has supported the federation with a donation of paint to the value of N$300 000.
“All financial contributions have assisted us to construct more houses for our members,” he added.
