Kavango East Governor Hamunyera Hambyuka and his team inspected the water supply infrastructure in Rundu just a day after Urban and Rural Development Minister James Sankwasa's meeting on the water crisis.
Minister of Urban and Rural Development James Sankwasa has given the Kavango East regional leadership two days to find a solution to the water crisis in Rundu.
The Rundu Town Council (RTC) plans to begin the first phase of constructing its new building during the 2025/26 financial year.
Presently, council staff work from government-owned offices, housed in one of the town’s oldest structures, located on land belonging to the Ministry of Works and Transport.
The Rundu local authority has introduced prepaid water meters to eliminate the conventional ways of collecting water charges from the residents.
The council has run up debts of millions of dollars and is in arrears with NamWater because residents do not honour their post-paid water debts.
Rundu could face a return to a water rationing system if its outstanding debt of over N$300 million to the Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) was not settled or if remedial suggestions were not provided by 28 February 2025.
Rundu Town Council is recommending that Japhet Haiyambo Primary School and Hompa Sophia Junior Primary School temporarily close their doors while the lingering issues of sewage blockage and nonfunctional ablution facilities for learners are sorted.
Town Engineer in the Rundu Town Council, Sakaria Shopati, says the institution lost about N$3 million in the 2023–2024 financial year due to vandalism and infrastructure theft.
Shopati says despite the Town Council's attempts to upgrade service infrastructure, the local population is hindering progress.
The mayor of Rundu, Gabriel Kanyanga, says the town is looking into taking over its electricity supply responsibilities as they are continuously disappointed by NORED.
Kanyanga referred to Rundu as a dark town because NORED would collect money from electricity buyers, while the town benefits the least.
Residents of Rundu are calling on the council to address the water crisis in the town.
They made the call during the presentation of the 2024–2025 draft budget and tariffs.
Some of the residents who have taps said there has not been running water, while others say they have no water at all.
Two minors drowned in an open pit at Rundu today while playing in the water.
The children accompanied their mother, who had gone to the swamp for fishing.
According to the mother, Franciska Hausiku, she left her three children under a tree near one of the open pits while she moved on to the next.
