Otjiwarongo Mayor, Kandiwapa Shivute says the council will roll out its housing units' decongestion plans.

Shivute says as initially agreed with residents, the council will follow resolutions passed in December 2016 to eliminate all Single Quarters at the town as they are considered inhumane and overcrowded.

Shivute says to decongest 30 units which are currently divided into four sub-units, housing 120 households in total, on lease agreement.

The council will relocate some of the residents to new areas such as Kamp 5 Farm, which are to be serviced through the flexible land tenure, for new residential housing units.

"The council's decongestion plan is merely an operationalization of the decisions already taken in 2017 with a view to giving each occupant the equal opportunity to own a property and providing a viable alternative that is inclusive and provides each of the tenants who may not qualify with the security of tenure. The decongestion plan was communicated to all single-quarters occupants at a public meeting held on 1 October 2022 and another held on 31 January 2023. At these meetings, leaders of the demonstrators were present, and the single-quarter occupants, who attended, welcomed the decision of the council to implement the single-quarters decongestion plan".

Shivute further indicated that a decongestion plan survey carried out in August 2020, found that in some cases, up to twenty occupants share one toilet.

Residents also owe a combined amount of N$1.9 million in rates and taxes.

In July 2018, the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development welcomed the Council's decision to decongest, saying there is a need to eliminate the colonial contract worker's housing system.