The farming communities of the Omaheke Region's Otjitundu Village in Epukiro Constituency have received a new solar water borehole and water tanks through the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform.
The development is part of plans to capacitate rural communities and address the current situation, where residents pipe water from 15 kilometers away.
A member of the water point committee at Otjitundu Village, Mbeurora Tjozongoro, stated that the villagers have gone through tough times, having given up their existing boreholes years ago.
Tjozongoro says this has had an immense effect on agriculture and the Otjitundu community's livelihood.
"We had this problem for years—even more than 40 years. We were taking cattle from here to neighboring posts, and we lost a lot of cattle due to these trips from here to other villages, and that has been giving us a problem. But fortunately, today we got water, and we are very thankful because now we won't have a problem. People are quarreling because of the water, but now there will be peace in the place. I'm grateful and thankful for the government and our councilor."
He further called for more training of locals to ensure that new infrastructure is managed with care.
Epukiro Councilor Packy Pakarae stressed that providing water to rural areas is one of the mandates the state should work tirelessly to achieve through the line ministry.
Pakarae added that they anticipate drilling six more boreholes to address water challenges in most parts of the constituency.
"We are anticipating having six more boreholes to be drilled, and right now, yesterday we were at another village called Otjombundiro, and we are expecting drillers to drill water there. In a nutshell, when you look at those villages that really need water, we needed nine boreholes to be drilled, but given resources, it seems like we can only go up to six. But once again, depending on what depth you will get water, the more you go, the more you pay, so all this will have an effect on the number of boreholes we will drill, but today was a happy day for us and the constituency."
Pakae added that with this new infrastructure, communities should work hard and set up community gardens.
Otjitundu Village has 25 homesteads with more than 500 livestock.