Rundu and Ruacana have agreed to partner up in various areas of cooperation.
This comes after the two town councils renewed their cooperation through a memorandum of understanding at Rundu.
The two town councils agreed to address emerging issues, promote sustainable development, and create a conducive environment for investment and innovation.
The mayor of Ruacana, Linda Mbwale, pointed out some areas for cooperation.
“Local Economic Development, environment management, human resource management, infrastructure planning and development, finance, as well as public health and environment management such as solid waste management, green parks, gardens, cemeteries, and sports facilities.”
The Mayor of Rundu, Gabriel Kanyanga, says the idea is to fully utilise what the other town has to offer without it costing an arm and a leg.
“Gone are the days of town councils utilising consultancy while we have different expertise within our towns. By sharing that information, we are saying, If at RTC we discover that we are lacking in this area and Town Council is good in that area, we can be able to exchange our employees, at least for a month's period, for a staff member to come and improve where we are lacking.”
Compared to Rundu, Ruacana still has a long way to go in terms of general development, and its CEO is serious about levelling up.
CEO of Ruacana Town Council, Malakia Iileka, said, “We would like to learn how they attracted business to their place. What is it that they do to get those people to come and invest in their place? We are hoping to learn from them, and the learning that we are going to do will assist Ruacana to grow, though not to the extent of Rundu, but at least to bring it up to a standard.”
Last year, the Rundu Town Council had an arrangement with the City of Windhoek to assess their IT infrastructure, and just last month, Rundu approached the Municipality of Swakopmund for a solid waste management assessment.
Rundu Town Council CEO Olavi Nathanael says’ “After this signing, the two executives need to come up with an action plan. The action plan is going to be very, very specific. It will say, If you are in finance, what is it that you want to understand from the other institution, and it will be done collectively?”