Grass not greener in Windhoek

Many young Namibians are migrating to Windhoek in search of jobs, but most remain unemployed and end up in overcrowded informal settlements.

Migration statistics show the grass is not always greener in the capital.

Data from the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) shows strong rural-to-urban movement – most common among young jobseekers.

However, instead of finding jobs, 75% of them end up giving up after a year, resorting to living in shacks.

Cirrus Capital analyst Tannan Groenewald says the city is not able to provide opportunities to match the influx of people.

“Urban job opportunities remain insufficient for the large influx of jobseekers from rural areas. And about 75% of discouraged jobseekers had been searching for work for over a year before exiting the labour force,” he says.

Groenewald says the wave of migration has put significant pressure on housing in urban areas.

Currently, the number of shacks in Windhoek has tripled since 2011 – reaching 217 000 in 2023.

4 IN 10 LIVE IN SHACKS

“Nearly half of Khomas households are residing in shacks, while nearly four in 10 in the Erongo region are doing the same,” Groenewald says.

At the same time an urban-to-rural migration exists as people retire.

Between 2011 and 2023, approximately 69 000 people who were not born in the Khomas region lived there, while around 60 000 Khomas-born people moved to other regions during this time.

“The recent pattern of both inward and outward migration between Khomas and the O-regions may be due to broader labour market disengagement,” Groenewald says.

The ‘O’ regions refer to the Oshana, Oshikoto, Ohangwena and Omaheke regions in the country’s north.

BACKLOG

Namibia has a housing backlog of 300 000 units and will need about N$76 billion to clear this.

During her state of the nation address in April, president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said the government plans to construct 50 000 housing units within five years to resolve the issue of informal settlements.

Khomas governor Sam Nujoma (Jr) says his office has in the past submitted a report to the Office of the Prime Minister on how the region plans to address the formalisation of informal settlements.

Additionally, the Office of the Governor has finished a supplementary report detailing the amount required to actualise those plans in the current financial year.

Part of this plan includes land servicing to enable people to build houses.

“We just finished now with a supplementary report that will just detail what is needed for this financial year. This will be for land servicing, roads, electricity, sewerage, water,” Nujoma says.

HIGH SERVICE COSTS

Samora Machel constituency councillor Nestor Kalola says one of the issues pushing people into informal settlements is the City of Windhoek’s high service costs.

This includes water, electricity and rates and taxes.

“Their price is forcing some family members to vacate their homes and rent it out, and then they go grab land at the informal settlement,” Kalola says.

He says to address the issue of young people moving to Windhoek, services need to be decentralised and brought closer to the people.

“We should build enough institutions of higher education in different regions. It will allow students to enrol in the region of their origin. Additionally, services which can be provided by the government and other institutions must be decentralised. Only then can we reduce overcrowding in Windhoek,” Kalola says.

During a recent constituency meeting, prime minister Elijah Ngurare announced that the government has allocated about N$700 million to formalising Namibia’s informal settlements.

The mass formalisation of informal settlements was expected to begin in Windhoek and at Walvis Bay, Rundu, Keetmanshoop and Oshakati last month.

Aerial surveys are scheduled for completion by August, with engineers set to be recruited by July, the government’s plan stipulates.

DECENTRALISATION

Economist Omu Kakujaha-Matundu says decentralisation should create opportunities in the rural economy for young people.

“This could be expanded to agricultural projects and rural infrastructure, which will keep the youth and unemployed there,” he says.

Additionally, value should be added through cottage industries and small manufacturing plants arising from expanded agricultural activities supported by improved rural infrastructure.

“This will break the illusion of Windhoek as the only beacon of hope for the hopeless,” Kakujaha-Matundu says.

Another economist, Josef Sheehama, says the government should boost the agricultural industry in rural areas by increasing irrigation, using information technology, and improving market access.

He says new bottom-up initiatives and digitisation prospects should be created, as well as carefully considered and executed programmes to improve the lives of rural people.

“This will keep young people in their communities, because if you’re making a living in your current location, who would travel to Windhoek, where life is expensive?” Sheehama asks.

He says if opportunities become available in rural areas, the migration dilemma that results in budgetary constraints will be alleviated.

The parliamentary standing committee on economics and public administration in February recommended the establishment of a ministry of land delivery and housing provision to tackle Namibia’s housing backlog of 300 000 units.

In its report, the committee also said the rapid rural-urban migration is leading to the rapid growth of informal settlements.

One of the key challenges the committee highlighted was budget constraints, with insufficient funding allocated for land servicing projects and procurement processes.

“There is insufficient budget allocation to land servicing capital projects and there are prolonged procurement processes.

“On average, it takes four months to procure a consultant, and another four months to procure a contractor,” the report reads.