The Minister of Agriculture, Water, and Land Minister of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform, Carl Schlettwein, says his ministry will first monitor the current boreholes at Groot Aub, which are said to be without water, before considering other options.

This follows complaints by residents about the lack of water at the settlement in the Windhoek Rural constituency.

Schlettwein and the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, were in Groot Aub on a familiarization trip to see the situation on the ground.

The water shortage at Groot Aub resulted in many farmers losing their livestock.

Farmer Oscar Elago, who lost 12,000 chickens, decided to start pig farming, hoping to do better.

However, he says his pigs started to die as well.

The current boreholes either dry out with little water or were unsuccessfully drilled.

"When we first started, we had our borehole right here, so it dried up, so we needed to deepen it so that we could get water, so it's still the same problem of needing permission to do that, and right here we have the pigs, but now we can't expand, so we've moved some of the pigs, and we have close to four hundred pigs, but you'll see their conditions, today they get water, tomorrow there's no water," said Elago.

The Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, commended the farmers' initiative for bringing changes to their community.

"The people of Groot Aub are really trying their best to help themselves, strengthen themselves economically, and sustain themselves as the community of Groot Aub, and this is what we want to see in the future very strongly." 

On his part, Schlettwein says his ministry will monitor the current boreholes that are said to be without water to see what the problem is before seeking other options. 

"We must first examine each borehole to determine what is wrong with it and whether it is durable. Our teams will look at them and assess whether they fell in or the pipes are gone, then we try every borehole."

The chairperson of the |Khomas Regional Council, Shalukeni Moonde, the |Khomas Governor, Laura McLeod-Katjirua, regional councilors, and other experts also accompanied the two ministers.