Govt to roll out income grant to 'excluded’ towns

The Office of the President has instructed the social welfare ministry to include previously ‘excluded’ towns in the conditional basic income grant (CBIG), an amount of N$600 per household effective this month.

Currently, 8 238 households across all 14 regions benefit from the grant. They previously received N$500 a month, but the amount was increased in March 2023.

Walvis Bay, Henties Bay, Arandis, Omaruru, Usakos, Rehoboth, Aranos, Karasburg, Oranjemund, Ongwediva, Okahao, Oshikuku, Outjo, Oniipa, Omuthiya, Grootfontein, Okakarara, Otavi and Helao Nafidi are the towns the ministry will now focus on.

“Cabinet also directed the Office of the Prime Minister to avail funding for the programme from the national emergency fund until the end of the financial year. Thereafter, the ministry is to secure the necessary budgetary provisions with the finance ministry,” social welfare ministry acting executive director Manasse Mbingeneeko said.



Registration

Last year, the ministry collected data from towns that were previously excluded from the CBIG programme. It showed that 12 699 qualifying individuals or households still need to be registered. Mbingeneeko said this number may increase as some of the towns did not provide the requested data at that time.

"During November and December, the teams from the ministry will visit the various towns to continue with the registration, reregistration, verification and validation of beneficiaries and households at designated registration points in each town,” he said. Members of the public are urged to bring along national documents for themselves and all the members of their household. These include identity documents, permanent residence permits, marriage certificates and full birth certificates.

Beneficiaries will require these documents both when registering and when collecting their grants, Mbingeneeko explained.



Food insecurity

According to executive director in the Office of the Prime Minister I-Ben Nashandi, close to 580 000 people in Namibia were estimated to face high levels of acute food insecurity between July and September 2023.

"During the current period, most households do not have any food stocks, with most having indicated stocks lasting less than one month, and those who had stocks lasting between one and three months have already depleted their food stocks. Households have already experienced difficulties in purchasing food due to a lack of income and high unemployment rates,” he said.

Nashandi added: "It was projected that between October 2023 and March 2024, the number of people expected to experience food insecurity would rise to 695 000 people - 26% of the population."