Namibia: Khomasdal Residents Not Warned About Water Cuts

A resident of the Khomasdal suburb sent us a complaint regarding the water supply interruptions, which occurred over the last few weekends, sometimes for a whole day.

The disgruntled resident went on to say that when these interruptions happened, no prior warning had been given by the City of Windhoek.

When asked about this situation, City of Windhoek spokesperson Joshua Amukugo sent us a press release dated August 7 (a statement not received by this newspaper at the time) which read as follows:

The City of Windhoek hereby extends apologies to our esteemed customers residing in the Townships of Khomasdal and Otjomuise, for the inconvenience suffered over the past ten days as a result of water supply interruptions and loss of pressure experienced due to pipe bursts. This was due to pipe bursts experienced on ageing asbestos-cement pipes in the network.

The City of Windhoek is working round the clock to replace and repair the ageing pipes all over the City, so as to minimise the recurrence of the problem. This is a very costly exercise and needs to be properly co-ordinated as to minimise water supply interruptions. Due to limited financial resources this replacement programme will not be completed within the foreseeable future and other technologies are also investigated to address this problem.

While apologising for the inconveniences caused, City of Windhoek humbly requests our customers to bear with us and remains committed to delivering effective and efficient services, thereby enhancing the quality of life of all the residents.

Amukugo said that correspondence is normally sent out to all daily newspapers. “I have no idea why your newspaper was omitted but I will make a follow-up to find out why this happened. The only media institutions which are not normally included when send out these press releases are the weekly’s and monthly’s.”

The City of Windhoek yesterday apologised to residents in a newspaper advert.