Residents of Windhoek have to pay up to N$ 500 per month for in rates and taxes to the municipality from August onwards. After receiving many complaints last week when the new invoices reached residents, City officials held a press conference on Wednesday but scoffed at complaints and did not give much detail. While the City usually issues releases and notifications on all kinds of other changes, this new invention was done very quietly. Allegedly, the tax is part of the property rates, but now itemised for cleaning is streets and so-called open spaces. Some Windhoekers are adamant that they will not pay the new tax. They would only start paying if the Klein Windhoek River is kept clean and the illegal drinking spot behind the white boundary wall of the Ae Gams shopping centre is cleaned and kept free of hobos and criminals, some people told PLUS.

According to a legal source, residents should not pay the new tax in August, as that would mean they agreed to it from a legal point of view. According to a certain formula gazetted in mid-July, the City earns approximately N$ 3,9 million per month through this tax. Included is N$ 16 per household for the future city police.