Obrein Simasiku
Residents of Tsumeb took to the streets this week to show their displeasure with poor services, saying the services are incomparable to the value of the money they pay in rates and taxes.
They in addition called for the whole local authority council be dissolved, reasoning it has failed to address the needs and interests of the people. “As residents we are not happy with the municipality, as the local authority has failed in present and future to implement developmental projects with potential to uplift the town, instead it is turning into a ghost and lifeless town,” read the petition handed over to the town’s mayor Mathew Hangula.
Another demand is the for council to complete the audit report for the 2018/19 financial year, as well as writing off debts of deceased and pensioners. The provision of affordable plots and the need to develop Kuvukiland informal settlement, are also some of the issues the community wants addressed.
“It is also time the municipality considers employing local people, as majority are unemployed. The high unemployment is what causes many people accumulating municipal debts because they have no source of income to service such,” further states the petition.
The community is further aggrieved by the municipality’s recent procurement of new fleet of cars which includes a Toyota Fortuner and A Mercedes Benz sedan, saying these are misplaced priorities, when the town faces an acute shortage of serviced land, housing as well SME projects.
“Council still has the old Mercedes Benz, why didn’t they sell it so it could subdue the cost of the latest one? this is a waste of resources,” they lamented.
Council was given five working days to respond, failure to do so, the community said they will approach the Head of State to advance their grievances further.
