The Otjiwarongo Municipality has started cleaning up areas in the informal settlements that residents have described as health hazards.

In an attempt to clean up Otjiwarongo, especially the informal areas, which seem to be getting filthier by the day, the municipality has started picking up waste dumped along the main streets.

However, after following the rubbish truck to the disposal site, we learned that the trucks were not entering the site but rather going towards the back.

This is despite a sign prohibiting people from dumping waste outside the fence.

The Otjiwarongo Municipality in the Otjozondjupa Region has acquired a new fleet of heavy road upgrade machinery to repair the potholes, which are an eyesore, and upgrade major roads and intersections in the town.

Unveiling the new fleet comprising a roller compactor, water truck, front-end loader, and grader valued at over N$10 million, Town Mayor Gottlieb Shivute says the acquisition is a symbol of progress for a better Otjiwarongo.

The Otjiwarongo Municipality has entered into an agreement with the Road Fund Administration and the Roads Authority to rehabilitate and upgrade the roads in the town.

Residents of Otjiwarongo have over the years complained about the state of the roads, especially because they have very large potholes.

Since the town is situated on the B1 road, heavy cargo trucks have to go through the town, worsening the already existing potholes.

Councillors from the Otjiwarongo Municipality retained their positions during a swearing-in ceremony conducted by Magistrate Immanuel Udjombala.

Councillor Gideon Iyambo was elected as an additional council member, while the Popular Democratic Movement's Ernst Muraranganda was not sworn in, as he did not pitch up for the position.

Muraranganda did not give any official notice then.

The Road Fund Administration (RFA), the Roads Authority (RA), and the Otjiwarongo Municipality have signed an agreement to improve road infrastructure within the town. This initiative aims to enhance comfort for residents and attract investment.

The Chief Executive Officer of the RFA, Ali Ipinge, says the fund has already started with the selection of local authorities countrywide to enhance the road network.

The Otjiwarongo Municipality will be holding a stakeholder engagement launch to drive publicity for the hosting of the largest biomass plant on the continent.

Otjiwarongo is the first town in Namibia to be selected to host the plant and the second in Southern Africa.

The launch of the project, which will take place on September 21, will attract over 20 stakeholders in the wastewater treatment plant and waste-to-energy projects that incorporate biomass.

The event will sensitise key players and residents about the envisioned biomass plant.

Affected residents of Otjiwarongo's Single Quarters, who face mounting pressure from the Otjiwarongo Municipality to vacate their units as part of a decongestion plan, have taken to the streets of the town to air their dissatisfaction with the local authority's response to two previous petitions handed over this year.

Group spokesperson Irene Uushona says residents demand that the council look into writing off some N$1.5 million in debt owed by unit occupants.

A decision by the Otjiwarongo Municipality to ease the overcrowded Single Quarters hostel units at Orwetoveni has been met with mixed emotions by residents who are refusing to be relocated to a new service area with no water and electricity.

 Group chairperson, Irene Uushona says residents will remain defiant and not move from the dilapidated four unit houses to Kamp 5 settlement on the outskirts of the town as it's not habitable.

Uushona says the relocation area is not yet proclaimed to accommodate hundreds of residents and lacks basic services.

Otjiwarongo Municipality has promised to accelerate land delivery this year.

This is according to Mayor Gottlieb Shivute, speaking at the council's first meeting.

There are more than 5 000 people who applied for land at Otjiwarongo and Shivute says the Accelerated Land Delivery Programme was adopted in 2021.

Small-scale farmers at Camp Five are devastated after the Otjiwarongo Municipality removed fencing from their garden and set it on fire.

Good rains received in Otjiwarongo over the past few days had farmers optimistic that in no time they would reap what they sowed.

But farmers at Camp Five had their hopes dashed after the municipality burned down their garden fencing, which was made out of bushes to protect their produce from domestic animals.