Warmbad Hotsprings Lodge in the south is in a dilapidated state, mainly due to vandalism.
 
Sylvester Sibungo, Chief Complaints Investigator for ||Kharas and Hardap in the Ombudsman's Office, is of the view that this situation is due to maladministration.

Sibungo shared his concern at the Anti-Corruption Regional Forum meeting held at Keetmanshoop.

"According to the preliminary investigation that I conducted, Kharas Regional Council gave that project to a third party, which we don't know if it is still conducting business there or not. The question now is, if it is conducting business, do we have majors in terms of supervising, or if that project is not happening, have we claimed it back?"

Moreover, Sibungo also took issue with the disposing of sewer water in an open field and the filthiness of the Noordoewer settlement.

"A few kilometers before Noordoewer, you start seeing papers all over. I asked the settlement, what are you doing? You say the regional office doesn't give you support because they haven't given you money, but as the leadership of that settlement office, what have you done, even to educate the public or bring in some measures to make sure that you don't have all this littering happening, because it is not hidden."

In response, ||Kharas Regional Council Deputy Director, Megameno Shikongo, says plans are on the cards to revive the Warmbad Hotsprings Lodge.

"I think, you know, there was a motion laid with the council to be able to see whether, you know, we can do other intervention, you know, in order to upgrade, you know, that Hotsprings in that direction, whether it's through, you know, a private, you know, investors, so forth, so that, you know, that Hotsprings can really be revived because, you know, it can also be one of the economic drivers for Warmbad itself."

Shikongo says the council budgeted funds for a clean-up campaign at Noordoewer.

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Photo Credits
Tracks4Africa
Author
Luqman Cloete