Staff Writer
A local business entity, Crewfield Investments has pledged to establish community gardening projects and a medical centre which will uplift the Nauaspoort and Groot Aub communities.
Crewfield Investments Chief Operating Officer, Honest Madzivadondo speaking after meeting Windhoek Rural Constituency Councillor Penina Inga-Iita on Wednesday to discuss the two projects, said him and his partners plan to construct a health centre in Groot Aub area as well as encourage food production in Nauaspoort through gardening projects.
“It is so painful to observe that millions of dollars are being spent on food imports in the process thus tempering with employment creation. On that same note, Namibia’s sole dependence on imported food from South Africa (mainly) and other countries is at the edge of creating a social dysfunction,” he said, adding the gardening projects will provide sustainable food production for the community.
According to Madzivadondo, empirical evidence supports that the growth of the agricultural sector might have a significant role to play in the economy.
“This may be in the form of providing food, employment, income, foreign exchange, and creating demand for capital investments. Agriculture also supports other sectors such as transport, manufacturing, plastic packaging,” he noted.
Madzivadondo said that his team is glad that the councilor welcomed their proposal for the establishment of a private medical centre in Groot Aub to cater for the community.
“The settlement only has one clinic to care for the whole population and some residents have to travel to Windhoek of Rehoboth to seek treatment. It is against this background that we decided to open up an alternative health centre for the community that will operate 24hrs,” he said.
Councillor Inga-Iita welcomed the proposals, saying that instead of a feeding programme, the gardening project will create independence for the residents while also providing them with horticulture skills and employment.
“Ideally, a feeding project would’ve been welcomed but it is not sustainable and will likely create a culture of dependency in our residents. The gardening project is a well enough investment that will feed and employ the residents of our town Nauaspoort,” she said.
Meanwhile, during the visit to the Groot Aub Constituency Office on Wednesday, Crewfield Investments donated three boxes of ethanol-based sanitizer and 150 surgical masks which will be divided among the school, police station and council office to help combat COVID-19.
The visit also entailed a visit to the erven where the proposed health centre will be situated and the team also visited the gardening pilot phase underway.
