TWO residents of Uukwandongo village near Okahao suffocated in a well in the Iitapa grazing area on Saturday.

According to the Omusati police the two have been identified as Timotheus Iipinge Shiikwa and Josef Ndiwulinawa Abel (ages unknown).

Two other villagers who were cleaning the well when it collapsed were taken to the Okahao and Oshakati hospitals for treatment. The Iitapa area has not received any rain yet and the people there, especially the cattle herders, are digging and cleaning wells to get water for their animals and for themselves to drink.

Residents are accusing the councillor of the Okahao Constituency, Isai Kapenambili, of receiving money for the construction of earth dams in that area but of delaying the project.

The residents called on the Omusati Regional Council to investigate the delay in the water project.

Approached for comment, Kapenambili denied that he had received money to construct earth dams in the Iitapa area. He said the procedure for the construction of an earth dam was to apply to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry through the Directorate of Rural Water Supply. He said this was done and they were waiting for an answer.

According to Kapenambili, the two people who suffocated were cleaning their own private well and the incident had nothing to do with the construction of dams in the area.