A former homeless family of 11 at Walvis Bay is now the proud owner of a new three-bedroom house.

This is after the Walvis Bay Municipality and the Walvis Bay Rural Constituency came to the rescue of Johannes Hamutenya's family.

The house was donated to 18-year-old Johannes Hamutenya, who was born paralysed and is unable to walk or speak.

Hamutenya's mother, Justina Hamutenya, says her family has been without a proper house for decades as they moved from place to place in the harbour town.

"And this Johnny, we struggled with him all those years walking around the Walvis Bay ghetto life, we didn't get any solution for living. Where we end up at one house where the owner sold it, and that's how we end up in the street. Last year, from the first of January, we were in the street, where we were with my son and my whole family until the storm of Walvis Bay hit us too much. We suffered there. Coldness, wind—the weather was too much."

Hamutenya is happy that their requests for housing with the local authority have finally come to fruition.

"Because when we heard their story, they were knocking on our office before, even when we were not there, which is how they ended up giving us a solution now. Johnny is now the new owner of this three-bedroom house. We thank God for that, we thank our Regional officer, we thank our local authority, and we thank our minister, Alexia Ncube."

The Councillor of Walvis Bay Rural Constituency, Florian Donatus, said, "I can remember she also drove from Windhoek just to come and familiarise herself with the situation. She has come here three times if I can remember very well. And you must also understand that she is a wheelchair-bound person. We drove from my office to Johnny's place. We were in that shack with her, and I am pleading to leaders such as myself not only to do or help those that can help themselves."

Donatus thanked Alexia Manombe-Ncube, the Deputy Minister of Disability Affairs, for the role she played in the matter.