As part of the drive to accelerate development in housing provision at Kamanjab Settlement, a Walvisbay-based company, Walvisbay Consolidated Cold Storage, has donated brick-making machines to the Oromuve Traditional Authority.

The authority will use the machines worth N$75,000 to make bricks, which it will sell to the village council and community for the construction of housing units.

The donation follows after the village council indicated that it wants to eradicate shacks in a few years' time and help the country meet its national development goals regarding housing provision.

Launching the project, Kamanjab Constituency Councillor Nico Somaeb said such projects are needed in the settlement.

"Gone are the days that we were leading each other with hunger and poverty. It's now a time for us to initiate and come up with projects to support our government halfway in order to have a better tomorrow. As the CEO said, we have declared war against such, and I believe most of us here are staying in shacks, so this is the right time for an investment."

Walvisbay Consolidated Cold Storage board member, Michael Ngapurue, says the donation was necessitated by the shortage of bricks at Kamanjab.

"The shortage of standard building bricks in Kamanjab is the dominant driver of this project. In the envisioned housing project, the Kamanjab Village Council wants to construct 150 residential units. This, coupled with serviced plots that have been sold to the residents of the village, will reduce the demand exponentially."

Kamanjab Village Council Chief Executive Officer Bianca Nguaiko said the council will subsidise water use at the project and provide sand.

"This community project needs to be sustainable. They need to reduce operational costs, and one of those costs is water, which is very expensive if you have to use normal consumer rates, so, as a council, we have resolved that per month we can avail 5-thousand litres of water for only N$500 per month."

Kamanjab Village Chairperson Wycliff Goraseb hopes that the project does not become a white elephant but remains for years to come.

"Let it be an example in the region that this project when it kicks off, will not be a white elephant at the end of the day. Let there be no division. When the money comes in, keep on in that unity that you have started this movement together."

Oromuve Traditional Authority Chief Gabriel Kaunotje said, "I give the vote of thanks to you guys, Walvisbay Consolidated Cold Storage. We really appreciate your cooperation with us. We hope that after 2030, we are not going to call ourselves marginalised groups anymore, so we are on the same page as the other groups."