Denver Isaacs
18 November 2008
THE Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, Jerry Ekandjo, yesterday paid his first visit to the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) since taking over the reigns at the Ministry in April.
Members of the federation travelled to Windhoek from various regions for yesterday's event, which saw Ekandjo visit housing groups in Otjomuise, Greenwell Matongo and Okahandja Park.
Referring to his last dealings with would-be members of the group in the early 1990s when he last represented the Local Government and Housing Ministry as its Deputy Minister, Ekandjo credited the federation for the progress it has made since its establishment in 1998.
According to the federation's National Facilitator Edith Mbanga, 18 000 households in more than 540 saving groups across the country are currently part of the SDFN, which lays claim to approximately N$4,4 million in capital.
The federation has the blessings of 34 municipalities, leading to more than 3 400 households reportedly benefiting from the initiative.
Also present yesterday were representatives of Standard Bank, which operate as the federation's banker, and construction company Afrisam Cement Namibia, which has contributed about N$600 000 to the project since last year.
Explaining the workings of the federation, Mbanga dated the genesis of the project to 1987, when the said poor people in Katutura started saving money together in what was to become "Saamstaan", the first community-based housing programme in Namibia.
"The problem facing poor people was to find land and get affordable houses.
As single plots with services were too expensive, we came up with the idea of buying blocks and developing them ourselves," Mbanga said.
By 1998, the idea had grown to such an extent that the 33 housing groups that had sprung up started the federation, laying pipes and constructing the houses themselves with assistance from the Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG).
Ekandjo yesterday proposed speaking to vocational training centres in the areas where the federation was active, suggesting that students from there could be employed to help with plumbing and construction.
He also proposed a similar visit for Members of Parliament and Cabinet early next year, saying that it would be easier to convince Government of the programme's effectiveness and necessity if they saw the results for themselves.
Standard Bank's Katutura branch manager Aloys //Garoëb said yesterday that, since the start of the project, annual audited financial reports for the SDFN have consistently shown an absence of financial mismanagement.
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