Lack of water sources to supply the Xhorotshaa Rural Area Dwellers (RADS) settlement located within Kareng extension area has been cited as a major cause for the delay in relocating people to the area.
Ngami Member of parliament Carter Hikuama had last week asked the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to state the progress made so far on the establishment of Xhorotshaa Rural Area Dwellers (RADS) settlement in the North West District and the challenges that delayed the settling of people to their new home as well as the plans to resolve those challenges.
Xhorotshaa was declared a settlement in 2013 by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development through the North West District Council (NWDC) and since then they embarked on an exercise to relocate squatters around boreholes and cattle posts.
Responding to Hikuama’s question, assistant minister of local government and rural development Mabuse Pule revealed that the project did not succeed as the water sources from the Ghanzi district did not have enough yield to supply Xhorotshaa settlement.
He said that due to the water challenges in the area, the NWDC had in the past years requested for water sources from Ghanzi district to supply water to the settlement.
According to Pule, following the failure of water supply from Ghanzi district his ministry disbursed an amount of P500 000 in April 2017 to the NWDC for water development in the settlement but unfortunately the project experienced technical problems.
He stressed that submersible pump that was used got stuck at the depth of 130metres and attempts to remove it proved futile. Pule said that the relief borehole was then drilled at 170 metres but still no water was found and there was no likelihood of presence of water beyond that depth.
‘In light of these challenges, the NWDC has engaged the Department of Water affairs to assist in setting for a new borehole points in February 2022 and the two water points were identified to help yield adequate water supply to meet the demand of the new settlement,’ he revealed.
Pule indicated that the two points are sited about 18 km from Xhorotshaa within an area zoned for range allocation to individual owners of boreholes. He explained that his ministry through NWDC has further engaged Tawana Land Board with a proposal to realign proposed range boundaries to enable access to borehole sites by other people evacuating to that side.
However, Pule noted that since the identified water points are located 18km from the build-up area of the settlement it will require an estimated P3.6 million to facilitate the water reticulation associated pipe networks and equipping. He said that relocation plan has currently been quoted in the identification of a permanent and reliable water source for the proposed settlement.
Regarding the relocation, Mabuse said that an assessment was undertaken and a total of 25 households accounting to 341 beneficiaries were recommended for relocation together with their livestock comprising of 406 cattle and 159 goats. Pule revealed that a total of 28 housing units were also constructed at Xhorotshaa under the remote area development program and are ready for occupation.
