The farming community in the vicinity of Kaukurus in the Omaheke Region's Gobabis Constituency met to discuss developmental matters as an encouragement for the residents to take ownership of development in the region.

Gobabis Councillor Augustinius Tebele says his office wants to ensure that communities are involved in the regional development, and planning process and that everyone's input matters.

Discussions centred around land reform, labour, water supply, agriculture, and drought relief that need immediate interventions to better the living standards of the community.

Tebele says Gobabis Urban residents also face challenges of unemployment, high water, and electricity tariffs, and a lack of residential plots.

A resettled farmer, Jane Henguva, applauded the initiative of the constituency office, saying it is crucial to engage communities and see how socio-economic development challenges and the needs of the people can be tackled.

"We got very strong answers from the representative of those line ministries as we were asking some questions and given the right answers and still we are requesting them not to be the first and last for them to be with us here."

The constituency office promised to continue with further public engagements next month with the idea to bring in other relevant stakeholders such as the Social Security Commission and responsible government agencies that deal with matters of marginalised people.