SOME livestock
owners, whose animals are constantly impounded by the Oshakati Town
Council, said their animals are starved and secretly buried.
Pensioner Martha
Nghidishange (74), who lives in Okaku Village just a few metres from the
kraal where the impounded animals are kept, had her 40 goats taken on
account of wandering around town two weeks ago.
Nghidishange said
the goats were impounded while they were searching for water near the
Kandjengedi Bridge and she claims that she was not notified. Her niece,
she said, alerted her.
"I had to sell one
to pay for the release of the goats," she said, adding that she paid
N$360 to the town council to free her livestock.
Last week Friday, the town council impounded 34 of her goats again, which were kept in the kraal until yesterday.
"These people are
making me suffer. I do not know why they are treating me like this. They
took my goats before and now they have impounded them again," she
stated, adding that she has run out of money to pay to have her animals
released.
She furthermore
accused the council of starving the animals, which, according to her,
resulted in some dying over the past few days.
"I have seen a cow
and two goats lying dead in the kraal on Sunday. I saw them with my own
eyes," she said, expressing doubts as to whether animal owners are
notified when their animals die.
BH Ipinge also had
his cattle taken after they were found being driven home at Okaku
Kiipupu Village also close to the town last week.
"They took the animals into the kraal. Who do they think they are? In fact, they use bad language towards our people," he said.
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When The Namibian
visited on Monday, there was no food or water in the kraal, and the
animals looked hungry. There was a carcass that hung from a thorn tree
inside the kraal.