Adam Hartman
4 November 2008
Karibib — ONCE one of Namibia's better-off municipalities due to its gold resources, Karibib has become an example of poor local governance, while its residents are suffering because of a lack of development.
In terms of a recent High Court warrant of execution, most of the office furniture of the Karibib Municipality and two municipal vehicles will be sold on public auction within the next couple of weeks.
The warrant was issued because the municipality had failed to pay over its employee's pension deductions - amounting to over N$100 000 - to the relevant pension fund.
STUCK IN A RUT Lack of vision, political bickering, incompetence, failure to take responsibility for basic services and the "free rides" enjoyed by the town's leaders have been singled out as the major reasons why Karibib is stuck in a rut.
In several interviews last week it became clear that many small issues have compounded to become a large problem.
The question is: How could a town, which had so much financial strength in the past, have fallen so far? Karibib is still suffering from a major sewerage leak, which has led to a mosquito plague.
Roads and pavements are falling apart due to lack of maintenance; rubble and vegetation are increasing and refuse removal is lacking.
"The town has become unsightly.
It is dirty and unhealthy.
It's sad," a former local councillor and businessman told The Namibian.
A local entrepreneur, who wanted to be identified only as Aaron, says he stayed in Karibib because there was "so much potential".
Now, because of a municipal blunder with wrongly demarcated erven, he is at loggerheads with another major investor and risks losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sluggish response to an application to buy and develop erven for workers is also a problem, according to the owner of one of the bigger companies in Karibib, who did not want to give his name fearing that it may delay his application further.
He's been waiting over a year for council approval to develop five erven.
"We are investors, wanting to help our workers, but the municipality is not assisting; they are a stumbling block to their own development," he told The Namibian.
PLANS NOT EXECUTED Poor planning has also hampered the development and beautification of Karibib's main street.
Plans, endorsed by the Namibian Roads Authority, were completed in 2005 already.
The plan involved resurfacing the street, adding islands and speed bumps, beautifying the pavements and planting greenery.
Until now, nothing has happened.
Reference was also made to the vendor stalls at the eastern entrance of Karibib, which were officially opened in 2005.
The project received foreign financing to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It has not been used once.
Instead, vendors are doing business on the pavements along the main road and are an obstruction and an eyesore.
Businessman Attie Stadler said the Navachab gold mine was looking into building another 200 houses in response to the mine's expansion, but the municipality was asking "high prices" for the proposed erven.
In contrast, Usakos - about 30 km to the west - suggested that the mine develop 23 hectares there immediately, and for free.
"Because of this type of inefficiency, Karibib is being deprived of enormous future benefits," Stadler said.
"All we're asking for is the municipality to give us the basics."
"It wasn't always like this," said Gert de Bruin, Karibib's former CEO of more than a decade from the late 80s until 1999.
"We had money, and we got the job done.
We had the equipment to provide the necessary services, and we maintained it.
We wanted Karibib to be an example of good governance."
De Bruin said the reason why everything is falling apart is because of a lack of involvement from the town's current leaders, who are not taking responsibility for service delivery to the town's fewer than 6 000 residents.
According to him, councillors used to get low salaries and still worked hard for the community.
Now, he says, salaries are high and no work is done.
The town's current CEO, Lydia Kandetu, said the biggest problem is that there is no management system, and that councillors are just making up their own rules as they go along.
"The staff don't even have job descriptions, so they do not even know what they are doing.
There is also no mission or vision here - nothing to work towards to," she told The Namibian.
Referring to the town's five-year strategic plan for 2009-2014, she said this created a platform for priorities and deadlines, by which the community could measure the municipality's performance.
She said the problems with sewerage, waste and health management would "all be over by January next year".
She also said various key positions in the municipality will be filled in the near future, to assist in identifying and tackling the problems.
"The biggest challenge is to bring back trust and good reputation and image to deliver best service," she said.
"People think we're useless, and I want to prove them wrong.
With the new policy they can now hold us accountable."
The general feeling among the residents, though, is that talks and plans are not enough, and that action is required.
However, everyone The Namibian talked to said Kandetu was doing a tremendous job under very difficult circumstances.
They feel the Town Council is hampering her efforts.
A former councillor said in the past, it was an honour to be a councillor and serve the people who voted for you.
Councillors had to own property in the town and could have no municipal debt.
Now people become councillors to be able to get property at cheaper rates, and enjoy a salary and S&Ts while never being at work to serve the people," he stated.
Residents feel that the obstacles the town faces are not insurmountable and there are simple solutions that would have immediate effects.
There are many unemployed people who can help clean the town.
Once the town is clean and tidy, it could attract more investors, more people, more products and services.
This would create more jobs and eventually more income for the municipality.
"Our biggest assets are not our resources, but the people and their well-being," said community representative Peter Dirks.
"The current leaders are not considering the community's well-being; they're only interested in themselves to everyone's detriment."
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