Fishermen tackle their own housing needs

The minister of fisheries and marine resources, Derek Klazen, has praised a group of fishermen for establishing a federation solely to address the housing need amongst seafarers. Willhelm Lotokeni, the deputy secretary-general of the October Seafarers United Land and Housing Federation, explained that the organisation was established two years ago by seafarers affected by the 2015 industrial strike. The massive strike started when over 3 000 workers walked off the job in October 2015 to demand overtime payment, night allowance, and danger pay. “Some of us lost our houses while others&#039; properties were repossessed. After we were absorbed by different companies and started earning a little money again, we came up with the initiative to establish a housing federation. We started with 280 members and our membership has increased to 404 members.”The group members started by contributing N$200 per month and managed to raise N$800 000. The October Seafarers United Land and Housing Federation has a proper leadership structure and employs an administrator operating from an office in town. The federation, which aims to acquire land for its members and build affordable houses for them, was awarded portion 18 at Farm 37, which consists of approximately 700 plots. “Most seafarers cannot afford to buy land or a one-bedroom house from the National Housing Enterprise (NHE), Ramos Realtors, and other developers. We engaged and reached an agreement with Stewart Planning to start with the layout of the land we secured. We already made a down payment of N$50 000 on 24 November 2023. This will allow the company to start with the laying out process. We also agreed to pay off the balance of the total of N$1 130 000 required to lay out the complete stretch of land we secured monthly.” Lotokeni said the federation will not be targeting Walvis Bay only and is looking to expand to Swakopmund, Henties Bay, Oranjemund, and Lüderitz. “Our target is to make sure that each seafarer gets a house. We aim to fight poverty by providing decent shelter.”The October Seafarers United Land and Housing Federation will host a stakeholder meeting to discuss all technical aspects on 27 March 2024 at the Protea Hotel in Walvis Bay. IN 2022, the governor of the Erongo region, Neville Andre, called on municipalities to avail land to prospective fishing companies that want to build houses for their staff. “Many fishermen still live in backyard shacks and we want companies to assist their workers with proper and decent accommodation.” Andre listed employment creation, value addition, the recognition of Namibian captains, and salary disparities of Namibians versus foreign crews as challenges the industry faces. “The sector has tremendously contributed to the employment and reemployment of fishermen - there is room for improvement in terms of addressing the challenges of employment creation and housing in the sector.”

Fishermen tackle their own housing needs

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Republikein 2026-02-03

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Fishermen tackle their own housing needs

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Republikein 2026-02-03

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