The Minister of Urban and Rural Development, James Sankwasa, has criticised local authorities for their failure to fully implement a directive intended to assist elderly residents who are struggling with water debt incurred during the COVID-19 period.

He made the remarks during a public meeting with Opuwo residents in the Kunene Region.

Sankwasa said he gave instructions to all local authorities to submit the outstanding water bills of elderly people so that the debts could be considered for write-off.

Out of the 59 local authorities, only five responded, and Opuwo Local Authority is among those that did not submit the required information.

He said he decided to reveal the information to the public because local authorities are letting him down.

“The question now that I have is, local authority councillors are elected by residents of the town to respond to and deliver service to the people. When this is not done, Sankwasa becomes a very worried minister because I am not here to lead people that are suffering.”

Sankwasa also raised concerns about unequal access and distribution of land, with mostly wealthy individuals continuing to acquire land at the expense of the have-nots.

He called for an end to these imbalances and rather fairer allocation of land.

The minister explained that the non-availability of land has resulted in the mushrooming of informal settlements with illegal settlers who at the end of the day end up demanding municipal services that become hard to offer in undemarcated areas.

“When people are not given land they applied for from 2015 to 2019, they have not been allocated land. People that are getting land are the rich, not the poor, and Sankwasa has a problem with that because nobody in this country went to war to fight for democracy, but they went to fight for land.”

He also expressed concern about commercial banks only financing houses for people with payslips, leaving ultra-low, low- and middle-income earners with limited opportunities to own houses in urban areas.

Sankwasa also addressed gender-based violence.

He said that in the past, men respected women, but men of today have since lost the cultural values that promoted respect and dignity towards women.

“Back in the old days, a woman was one of the most respected persons in society, and it was even considered difficult to find a wife. Today, however, some men are treating women like boxing balls—like punching bags—because we have lost our cultural values.”