19 Nov 2023

 The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) is willing and ready to sell its farm, within which the village of D’kar falls, to government.

This was revealed by Member of Parliament for Ghanzi North, Mr John Thiite in Parliament on November 16.

In that light, Mr Thiite urged government to grab the opportunity to enable the much needed developments in the area.

He said the deal could be accomplished through a similar arrangement as the recent one between government and the Tati Company Limited for the acquisition of 45 000 hacters in the North East district.

“This is more so that the church council is willing to make a deal with government, and they have already started the process of valuing the farm to make an offer to government,” he said.

He said should the deal be struck, it would be a welcome move as D’kar had grown over the years, with the last population census putting its population at 2 800.

“The village is now suffocating as it has nowhere to grow, and the matter is worsened by the fact that the DRC farm is surrounded by other private farms, and workers in such farms normally relocate to D’kar upon retirement, adding to the land challenge, he said.

Mr Thiite also requested for more funds towards the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in the next financial year, saying the recent delimitation commission resulted in a total of six remote area villages in his constituency, thereby increasing demand for Remote Area Development programmes.

He also called for officers in acting position in such villages to be confirmed as incentives for working in such areas, where he said many civil servants were reluctant to work.

He said such reluctance also led to officers overstaying. Mr Thiite also enquired on the construction of Ghanzi airport, which he said was promised as far back as 2005.

He also requested government to quicken the process of opening old Ghanzi hospital, which had been turned into a clinic.

On the other hand, he welcomed the electrification of Qabo and Chobokwane, saying the develpment would assist in setting up of businesses and boost the uptake of government initiatives that required electricity. ENDS