A new civic organisation called the Outjo Residents Association (ORA) was launched and is aiming to tackle local challenges like housing shortages, unemployment, and poor municipal services.

 While the group is not a political party, it will contest in the upcoming Regional Council and Local Authority Elections to give residents a stronger voice in local governance.

The launch attracted residents, youth representatives, and community leaders.
The association was formed to strengthen community participation in decision-making and ensure transparency, accountability, and better service delivery at the local level.

Speaking at the launch, the association’s Chairperson, Koos Mazenge, urged residents to support the movement in the upcoming elections.

“We want to rectify the problems that are within the current council. And we can only do that if we get the mandate from you. And how we’ll get that mandate is when you go in numbers and vote for ORA.”

Its secretary, Dankeni Tjilongo, clarified that the association’s focus remains strictly at the local level.

“We are an association that is only mandated to contest in local authority elections. The office that you see here, the municipality, is where we are going to contest. Now, on top of that, we do not reject or push away any other supporter that is coming.”

ORA’s treasurer Pieter Mostert adds, “The main purpose of ORA is to promote efficient and effective local authority management because we feel political parties over the last years have lost track of what’s going on on the ground. We don’t want to be told from Windhoek what we must do, when we must do it, how we must do it, or whom we can work with or not.”

The association also confirmed that Koos Mazenge will take part in the upcoming Regional Council and Local Council elections as an independent candidate, with the full support of ORA, while the association itself continues to focus solely on the local authority elections.