Otjiwarongo marches against delays in writing off pensioners’ debts

Otjiwarongo residents on Thursday staged a demonstration over the municipality’s alleged delays in writing off pensioners’ accumulated debt.

In their petition, the demonstrators claimed they were in possession of a written directive from the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development instructing the Otjiwarongo Municipality to compile a list of pensioners struggling to pay their rates and taxes.

“However, to our surprise, the municipality has excluded some pensioners qualifying for this government initiative,” the group says in its petition.

The group has also accused some local authority councillors of listing only pensioners who are their acquaintances and called on the ministry to intervene and extend the deadline, which was set for 31 August, to allow their grievances to be addressed.

They further demand that the municipality respond to their concerns by 8 September.