President Hifikepunye Pohamba flew to Mariental Wednesday after residents called for his visit during a public meeting on Tuesday. Pohamba said he awaited a comprehensive report before deciding if Mariental should be declared a disaster area. Over 2000 residents are homeless and the damage to private property, businesses and farms is estimated at N$80 million. The Namibia Pig Farm suffered some N$ 2 million in losses of infrastructure and some 2,000 piglets that drowned in the flood caused by NamWater as it released masses of water last weekend causing the flooding of Mariental. The Pardah milk farm of Ohlthaver & List was flooded, but rescued its valuable cattle and trucked most of the herd to Gocheganas so that milk production can continue. The Mariental branch of Agra donated one ton of maize meal to the Mariental Emergency Committee on Wednesday. The DTA leadership visited Mariental on Thursday.

Rehoboth might be the next town to be hit by a flood with the Oanob Dam overflowing. The dam near Rehoboth was 103% full and water is flowing over its spillway since the mid-week, NamWater warned. The dam is designed that when the water reaches the 100% level it spills over auto-matically. A flood of any magnitude can therefore be routed through the dam without NamWater’s control at any time during the day or night. The dam has no sluices, said NamWater.

People downstream of the dam, especially at the low lying areas of Rehoboth and other settlements further south of Rehoboth, are advised "to be on alert as that area may run the risk of inundation", said spokesperson Johannes Shighwedha. The water level behind the Oanob dam and in the river "may rise without warning".

The ministry of finance has stepped up its tax collection in the past months and did various forensic audits if income tax and value added tax returns. The proud result: N$1,16 billion were collected. The Oshakati regional tax office was visited and it was found that companies do round tripping, by which goods are allegedly exported according to fake invoices, but are sold within Namibia. Whistle blowers also helped the finance ministry, said permanent secretary Calle Schlettwein. Windhoek taxpayers will also receive visits soon. Mr Jack le Roux heads the legal unit of the finance ministry and coordinates the forensic audits. People can report illegal practices to him and their information will be treated with the "highest degrees of confidentiality", Schlettwein says. Le Roux can be contacted at 061-2099111 or write to jleroux@mof.gov.na.