By Mbatjiua Ngavirue WINDHOEK The war of attrition in Okakarara between the ruling Swapo/DTA coalition at the Town Council and the opposition Nudo party continues unabated. The battlefield has now shifted to a house allegedly improperly acquired by Mayor Tjatjitirani Kandukira and Town Council official and former councillor, Alex Kazengurura. The house apparently belonged to a resident evicted for non-payment of arrears owed on the instalments for the house. This led to allegations that the Town Council was unfairly evicting people finding it difficult to keep up with payments, so that town councillors could move into the houses. Nudo councillor, Ottniel Uzera, made the controversy public in an interview with the NBC’s Otjiherero-language station. In the interview, Uzera talked about the alleged confiscation of houses in order to give them to councillors, while trying to explain that not all councillors were involved in the scheme. The question of the arrears owed by many Okakarara residents has dragged on for some time. The Town Council eventually took a decision to first send house occupants letters, asking them to come and negotiate payment terms with the Council or face legal summons. Nudo apparently now claims that right from the beginning it was opposed to the decision to send house occupants lawyers’ letters. According to Nudo, the Town Council only passed the motion after the Swapo/DTA coalition outvoted Nudo. The Okakarara Town Council consists of two Swapo councillors, two DTA councillors and three Nudo councillors, giving the Swapo/DTA coalition a majority of one vote. Uzera claims the Town Council reprimanded him for speaking publicly about a “confidential” Council matter, sending him a letter saying he must appear at a disciplinary hearing. According to Nudo, it took the position that they should rather sit down and talk to residents instead of taking them to lawyers. The party further alleges that before the cases were finalized by the lawyers, Kandukira and Kazengurura occupied one of the houses illegally. Furthermore, they say, the two Council officials jumped the queue because there were many people ahead of them on the waiting list for houses in Okakarara. Mayor Kandukira apparently already owns an NHE house at the town, so people cannot understand why he should need another house. Approached for comment, Kandukira first denied that the Town Council evicted any Okakarara residents from their houses. The Mayor says all the defaulters still occupy their houses, except for two houses where the occupants voluntarily surrendered the keys to the houses after they received lawyer’s letters. House occupants were simply asked to come to the Council and make arrangements for payment. Many were, however, not forthcoming and simply ignored the letters Council sent them, which then forced the Council to hand them over to the lawyers. “As a Council, we have a heart and a human face, which is why we asked people with problems to come in and talk to us. “This is dirty, irresponsible politics and represents the last kicks of a dying horse. There is no truth in the stories whatsoever,” he said about the Nudo allegations. He emphatically denies that Nudo ever opposed Council’s decision to give payment defaulters a final caution before referring them to the lawyers, adding that no one on the Council opposed the motion. According to Kandukira, the Okakarara Town Council has never taken any decision to a vote ever since inauguration on 28 May 2004, with all the Council decisions agreed on by consensus. He firmly denied allegations that the Town Council gave him a house, saying that this is misinformation. Council allocated a house that became vacant to Kazengurura, who is a Council employee. Due to marital problems, he himself suddenly became “homeless” after giving the family home over to his wife and children. “Because I was in this unfortunate position, he helped me out,” he explained.He has applied for a Council house using normal procedures, and is still on the waiting list, just like any other applicant. The Mayor suspects that certain decisions Nudo councillors have agreed to at Council meetings backfired on them, with their members perhaps now feeling their councillors are not serving their interests. “I think they are being threatened by their members who are forcing them to run to the NBC,” he suggested He further said it was “pure untruth” that Uzera faced a disciplinary hearing for making the matter public, or that he was reprimanded. According to Kandukira, the Town Council only wished to remind all members of the Council of the Code of Conduct for Councillors. The code states that a Councillor may not make confidential information public except in Council meetings.