THE San community at Ouholamo centre at Eenhana says the government has stripped them of their land and dumped them at the centre to live "like animals".
This is what residents told ombudsman Basillius Dyakugha, when he paid the centre a visit last week. The Ouholamo centre for the marginalised San community is home to more than 200 people.
This number, however, keeps increasing as more and more people need accommodation.
The centre was opened by former prime minister Libertina Amathila. The centre features 20 housing units with two open rooms each.
"There is no space for all of us. You will even find 10 to 20 people living in one room, sleeping on the floors. Men, women and children all live together ... there is no order.
"They took us from our land to live here like animals. We don't own anything, we have no land on which to build our shacks. Even if we die, our children will have no land," says the centre's acting manager, August Itama.
Itama says the regional leadership is ignoring the San community and their plight.
"The town council and governor's office do not have time for us. We don't even know where their offices are. We only see them here when they are telling us to vote during their campaigns," he says.
"The projects they initiated for us have been stopped, the gardens are dead, the schools have no materials and our children are taken away, without our consent, to hostels only to return pregnant.
"They say it was done to ensure they remain in school, but they end up leaving school because they come back pregnant," he says.
DILAPIDATED
When The Namibian visited the centre, the doors and windows of most living quarters were broken, the toilets blocked, and the gardens abandoned.
"I was born here before the centre was set up. The whole area belonged to the San community, but now we are told it's part of the town. We were never compensated, we were just moved into the centre. The place is congested. There is even this Covid-19 virus we are told about," resident Joshua Matengu says.
Thomas Puleinge, regional development planner for marginalised communities in the Ohangwena region, says his department is doing all it can to address the plight of the region's San community.
"The government has been taking care of the San community at all the centres set up. They are given food twice a month, the pensioners and the disabled get their monthly grants, and any member of the San community who passes away is buried by the government.
"The children are in schools, and we try to motivate them to stay in school by separating them from the communities and settling them in boarding hostels.
"We do this because we know if they stay in the communities they will not focus on their studies," he says.
Puleinge says those living at Ouholamo are better off than other San communities in the region. He says no parent has been forced to send their children to hostels.
"In fact, they are the ones who insist we take their children to the hostels because they know they cannot care for them. Whether at school or here, the pregnancy rate is the same," he says.
Dyakugha says his office would look at how best to support the San community at the centre.
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"My office is there to assist all members of society, regardlessof their backgrounds, without fear or favour. We have heard your concerns and challenges, and we will see how best we can assist," he says.
The Eenhana Town Council referred all queries to the regional council.
Ohangwena regional council chairperson Erickson Ndawanifwa this week said: "We really cannot comment much because that centre was set up within the boundaries of the town council.
"It was decided that the land where the San community lived was within the town's boundaries and they could not afford services to set up structures on the land, and furthermore, they are regarded as nomads as they are always on the move.
"Rather contact the town council for more detailed information on how the centre came about," he said.
