Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Utoni said the City of Windhoek was regarded as one of the cleanest cities in Africa but we have lost that status. The Minister asked rhetorically, was it because we in the offices didn’t take our tasks seriously? Hygiene will be a focus for years to come. There’ll be no open market opened if there’s no supply of water and sanitation, he said. “Open markets drive the economy of any country,” he said but added that these open markets have lost clients because they don’t look clean. “We want to make sure tourists come to buy food from our open markets,” said Utoni. He said with the advent of COVID-19 open markets needed to be closed as they were not clean. Windhoek Mayor Fransina Kahungu said the open markets were closed in an attempt to comply to COVID-19 state of emergency regulations and to clean them. We now comply with the Ministry of Health’s requirements. “So far, the cooperation from vendors is commendable, “she said. “We spend a lot of money to build these markets. The City of Windhoek can not be the only one who should make sanitiser and cleaning materials available but vendors should meet us halfway. Deputy Minister of Health Dr Utjiua Muinjangue said informal markets can pull a large crowd. We wanted to ensure public health and food hygiene is taken care of. Because of COVID-19, it’s important “to fertilise these opportunities”. She said the ministry established the following requirements for markets to operate; markets should be disinfected, cutting surfaces should be clean and disinfected, there should be running water and ablutions. The education of informal traders is necessary to know why hygiene is important, she said. The deputy minister also said they decided that sellers should rotate to minimise the crowd and adhere to social distancing regulations. Selling spaces of vendors were marked. Clients entering these markets will from now on wash their hands and queue spots have been marked. Training and education will be continued and health inspectors will continue to monitor markets. They were speaking at the COVID-19 Communication Centre morning update.