Andrew Kathindi
Government has again been caught ill prepared when it comes to the COVID-19 issue, as it emerged that no contingency plans were made in case the country recorded deaths.
This comes as the country as of today (Monday) had now recorded four deaths according to the Ministry of Health, with thirteen cases extremely critical and in need of oxygen support.
This comes as the Walvis Bay community has been up in arms with the local authority over its decision to bury the first COVID-19 death in the town.
The Ministry leading the COVID-19 task force maintained its role when it comes to deaths was only limited to burial procedures and not the location and allocation of the land to be used in the various towns that might find themselves recording deaths.
“The Ministry of Health does not deal with the allocation of burial sites. What we do is, we take over the procedure of the burial; that we do, but the allocation of land is the local authorities.” Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula said, referring queries to the local authorities when quizzed if any planning had been done at government level on the matter.
Manager of Parks and Cemeteries in the City of Windhoek, Uakazuvaka Kazombiaze told Windhoek Observer that there was no need for any special allocation of burial sites should the city record any COVID-19 related deaths.
“We don’t need to allocate private land as our cemeteries can accommodate plots needed. We don’t need a private cemetery for those burials, unfortunately,” he said adding the city had previously dealt with pandemic deaths years back without the need for special allocated burial sites.
Quizzed further, Kazombiaze referred queries to the Ministry of Health, saying the municipality will act on instructions from the ministry.
“For that matter, people are buried by government. We are just complementing what government is doing as a municipality. The procedure is prescribed to us by the ministry of health, they should prescribe to us how to handle them,” Kazombiaze said.
This comes as Walvis Bay Mayor, Immanuel Wilfried said that land that the first death had been allocated was the only land in the town, “It is the only site that has an environmental impact assessment certificate granted.”
“We have three cemeteries in Walvis Bay: Kuisebmund, Narraville and one in town. We have not buried the deceased on one of these cemeteries; we buried him in cemetery that is earmarked. They are asking, Narraville, why not here or there? The issue is if it’s a COVID related death, it’s the government involved, not local authorities. We can only provide the cemetery but the other things it’s not with us.”
He also noted that the municipality had made a provision for 40 graves on that site.
“According to the protocols, they say after 6 months, it’s a normal grave, the family can even go and put up tombstone.”
