SDFN calls for local authority cooperation

WINDHOEK, 22 MAY  – Local authorities should work with community members to fast-track the provision of housing in Namibia, Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) national facilitator, Edith Mbanga has said.
Speaking at the Institute for Public Policy Research Afrobarometer Round 7 Survey presentation on service delivery and housing in Namibia here on Tuesday, Mbanga stressed that people already occupy land in informal settlements and as such, local authorities should work with the community members to formalise the settlements.
Mbanga said SDFN members are able to service a plot for N.dollars 8 000 and build a one-bedroom house for N.dollars 35 000.
She said the federation has built about 4 800 houses countrywide, with members having installed their own water and sewer services after securing their plots of land.
“We cannot wait for government to do everything. Hence, as low-income earners, we saw the need to come together and save, to show government that we have the money to build our houses, provided there is land,” she said.
At the same occasion, the Deputy Minister Urban and Rural Development, Derek Klazen said the ministry has been supporting the SDFN by allocating financial resources to facilitate access to housing among low income and ultra-low-income households.
Klazen noted that the ministry has increased its annual finance of N.dollars 7 million to N.dollars 10 million.
“I was shocked to learn that SDFN members could build a one-bedroom house worth N.dollars 25 000 to N.dollars 35 000,” he said, adding that another benefit is that members can extend their houses at their own pace.
The SDFN was established to improve the lives of the poor by securing affordable land and shelter as well as improving the living conditions through saving groups.
The federation has more than 700 saving groups with 23 423 members nationwide and had saved N.dollars 25 million by December 2017.
(NAMPA)