14 Mar 2019

A delegation from North West District Council (NWDC) recently embarked on a benchmarking trip to Namibia.

The delegation comprising some councillors and staff members benchmarked on landfill management, market stalls as well as the two-teacher classroom model.

The exchange trip followed a visit by Zambezi Town Council delegation last April, where the officials from both councils discussed areas of cooperation, exchanged ideas and learnt best practices with a view to improving their level of operations towards improving the livelihoods of their communities.

The purpose of the NWDC visit was to identify possible areas of collaboration in terms of programmes, development initiatives, technical knowledge and trade.

The council chairperson, Mr Duncan Enga told the ongoing full council session, that the delegation undertook the exchange trip from February 24 to March 2 to the City of Windhoek and Zambezi Town Council.

He said the trip was a success and that a detailed report would be availed in other council fora. 

He appreciated that the Zambezi Town Council visited them last year on a benchmarking mission and hoped that such exchanges would develop into something of mutual benefit.

The councillors thanked the delegation and hoped their trip would yield good results and benefit the Ngamiland community.

On social economic development, councillors were informed that a Poverty Eradication Strategy was tabled during the recent national poverty eradication pitso and once completed, it would go a long way in assisting implementing agencies to focus their efforts.

The council chairperson  was pleased to reveal that two beneficiaries from the district were awarded certificates of graduation by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi during the pitso.

He said the two projects were catering from Maun and bakery from Qangwa, adding that the district would organise a graduation ceremony for the other successful projects at a later stage.

With regard to progress on Poverty Eradication group projects, it was reported that the Chanoga horticultural project had managed to plant one hectare of butternuts, 0.5 hectare of watermelon and 0.125 hectare of spinach.

The first harvest is expected end of March, while on the other hand Tsau integrated horticulture project has managed to start installation of drip irrigation pipes with planting expected in April.

The house was also informed that the water supply for Samuchima Fish Farm is complete and awaiting connection to the farm in the box system. Currently the project is experiencing delays due to procurement.

It was reported that Thito Integrated Aquaculture Project’s two ponds liners were complete and the restocking of the completed lined ponds is expected to be done by the end of this month.

The scheduled completion date for the pond is June. Mr Enga expressed hope that all the projects would eventually improve the lives of the people and he urged all those involved to ensure that they succeed.

He also stated that the district was working round the clock to eradicate the backlog of individual Poverty Eradication projects. 

“The district is embarking on a robust drive to address the issue of incomplete packages by staging mass packaging for Okavango Sub- council and Maun Administration Authority, targeting all incomplete packages. We expect to complete the exercise by end of March,” he added. ENDS