28th Jan 2015 Namibian soldiers will be housed by the Namibian Defence Force in a nationwide exercise which will provide living spaces for them. The NDF Chief Lieutenant-General John Mutwa issued a letter that homeless men and women of the armed forces of the country should be registered for possible housing, citing the increasing size of the army which was putting pressure on existing military structures and houses as a major reason for the move.
He is quoted as saying “The ongoing infrastructure development projects are very slow and are therefore not helping at all. This is the reason we do not have married quarters and other appropriate accommodation facilities.” He added that a high number of the soldiers were family men and needed to own homes, and also for the future.
Spokesperson for the Military Colonel Monica Sheya, clarified however that the initiative is not a land distribution procedure and that only the Lands Ministry had the authority to allocate land. Sheya said: “We need family quarters and so on. Everybody needs accommodation and the life of a soldier is not to live on the base. There comes a time when they retire. Hence, they need accommodation. We have not registered anyone for land.”