Five hair salons close shop with no water, electricity

FIVE hair salons at the King Plaza complex in Windhoek have been forced to temporarily close shop due to constant water and electricity cuts.

King Plaza is owned by businesswoman Stina Wu. The hair stylists say water and electricity supply cuts have been ongoing for the past two years, interfering with their operations.

The president of the Namibian Hairdresser Association, Pujesu Namundjebo, last week said the situation has impeded their growth.

“This matter is not affecting me alone, but all hair salons at this complex. We have about five hair salons, and they accommodate almost 100 people per day.

“For four days now, water and electricity have been cut off,” he said.

The stylists say they are hoping for intervention, since they are losing customers. “We cannot do anything without water and electricity. We have a problem with the management of this complex, because they are not paying the municipality,” Namundjebo said.

Hair stylist Monika Shaanika last week said: “We are really affected because it’s month-end, and our landlords are expecting us to pay rent, and where we are staying we also need to pay rent.

“We do not have customers, because we do not have water and electricity.”

The owner of Lavish Hair and Beauty Studio, Lydia Atshikoto, said stylists are paying a high amount for rent. “Our salon invoice is always between N$24 000 to N$25 000 per month, and if you fail to pay on time you will just find your salon closed, while they are the ones owing the municipality a lot of money,” she said.

“Today we tried to set up a generator. It’s very expensive, because we are using petrol. It’s now month-end and their invoice is already out, and they told us they are only going to give us a discount in September, which is not fair,” Atshikoto said. She said currently the stylists are footing the generator’s fuel costs themselves. “Some of us bring water from home so that we are able to attend to our clients at least,” she said. The manager of the King Plaza complex, Chris Shivolo, yesterday said they are trying to address the issue.

“Hopefully everything will be restored later today or tomorrow,” he said.

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