By: Annakleta Haikera

The newly opened Choppies supermarket in the Divundu mall in Mukwe constituency has created employment for 42 residents in Divundu. Divundu residents in Mukwe constituency were excited to welcome Choppies supermarket into town.

The shop that was opened on Thursday, 1 September has brought happiness to many locals, who say it has brought goods and services closer to the people. The Divundu mall, where the shop is located, is already making notable improvements in the lives of the people. The mall completion will create more than 110 permanent jobs. The mall aims to improve the living standards of the people as well as transform the rural areas into towns and cities.

Chairperson of Divundu Village Council, Christoph Kupembona, told The Villager that Divundu town is steadily growing in terms of development.

“Not only has Choppies created employment for our people but it all started with the construction of the whole mall. There were also residents employed to build this beautiful mall. I grew up here and we have been traveling 400km to and from Rundu, and it was very costly. Development comes with advantages and disadvantages, but as a council, it will not pull us backward. We are going forward.”

According to Kupembona, there has been negative talk within the town that the village has taken away residents’ fields because of the construction of the mall.

In response to this, he said, “But what can we do? We need to bring services closer to the people and change from rural to town. I am happy that employment has been created, and I can testify that all the 42 people employed in Choppies in different departments are all residents from Divundu itself, and only a few came with Choppies, such as the manager of the store.”

He also said that most residents want to be employed, but it’s not possible because many need employment, while the posts designed for employment are few. He said that as investors come to the town, more employment will be created.

“If things are not clear people can always come to the village council so we can resolve problems. Let’s not be violent. We will have a community meeting next week and we call out to everyone in Divundu to attend the meeting.”

Afonso Christoph Valombola, A resident in Divundu told The Villager that it’s an exciting thing to see development happening in the town of Divundu as services are now brought closer to the people.

“In the past, we only had Chinese shops in town. These types of services rendered will now allow us to shop in our own town and not travel 200 km to Rundu,” he said.

According to Valombola, for the past 20 years, people used to travel to Rundu to buy cosmetics and groceries, and when they don’t have cars, they pay for transport, which forces them to only purchase a few items.

Valombola also said: “Now we’re at ease. We know Divundu is still a small town but it’s developing daily, compared to how it was. One of the problems we are faced with is when it comes to the enterprises of banks, we don’t have First National Bank, which is one of the most used banks in the country. Services given by FNB is that you give your e-Wallet to a shop and they give you money, but the demands are a lot, and their services always run out of money.”