By Magreth Nunuhe
OKAHANDJA – Riot police had to be called in yesterday to disperse angry crowds of Okahandja residents, who demanded the removal of all local municipal councillors, including the mayor Valerie Aron.
A near violent confrontation erupted in front of the Okahandja municipal offices as residents demanded affordable access to land, while also calling for accountability from the town’s authorities.
They also demanded life audits of all councillors, charging that the majority live above their means and must therefore explain their source of apparent riches.
Residents allege that rich people have been flocking to the ‘garden town’ where land is apparently sold to them cheaply, while the poor are struggling to gain similar access.
“Down mayor down! Down councillors down!” chanted hundreds of protesters, who gathered in front of the municipal premises since 07h00, demanding that the mayor come out of her office and accept their petition.
By noon, things got so heated that about ten riot police officers tried to use minimal force to disperse the restive crowd and block their entrance to the premises, but the residents were unmoved.
“The police came here for what? We are standing here without guns,” shouted one resident, adding that there was nothing special about Aron to be protected, while Omaruru councillors had been removed swiftly from office.
A year ago, local government minister Charles Namoloh removed all Omaruru councillors who were accused of using municipal resources to enrich themselves.
Residents of Okahandja make similar allegations against their councillors.
Notable among the protestors was former Okahandja municipal councillor Paulina // Goamuses, who had an ill-fated stint at the municipality, capped by allegations that she won a seat on a Swapo ticket while she was in fact a registered Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) member. She denied the claim.
“I am not here for any revenge. It cannot go on like this,” she said yesterday.
Community activist Wilfred Goagoseb claims that upon independence in 1990 the municipality had about N$11 million in surplus, but 25 years later, the local authority owes over N$40 million in debts.
In the petition which is addressed to President Hifikepunye Pohamba, Swapo Secretary General Nangoloh Mbumba, Prime Minister Hage Geingob, Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, Charles Namoloh, Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission Paulus Noa and the Otjozondjupa Governor Samuel Nuuyoma, the residents demand the immediate removal of mayor Aron, all councillors and the heads of department at the municipality.
“The mayor is taking the community for a joke and disrespectful statements such as, ‘I will not (dish) out land as if it’s drought relief’ – but yet she does so to the rich and politically connected individuals that she gambles with, thereby disadvantaging the needy people of the town (sic),” read the petition.
The residents demand that they also pay N$13.91 per square metre of land, a rate that the municipality allegedly okayed for well-known property developer, Dr Thomas Ihuhua.
They say they have called on Minister Namoloh to act by removing the councillors as he did in Omaruru, but the minister did not respond favourably to their request.
The community further demands clarity on how Aron became mayor despite having an alleged criminal case (case number 159/05) of 2006 against her.
“We demand that the municipal council and its committees open their meetings to the public, which includes service delivery agreements, the budget, any by-law, any amendments to integrated development plans and a performance management system or its amendments,” their petition states.
Receiving the petition, Okahandja Regional Councillor Steve ‘Biko’ Booys said the residents’ voices have been heard and that he would do what is in the best interest of the community.
Booys said the next fight was for economic emancipation, but that could not be waged without ownership of land that has become an issue all over the country.
He called on the community to protest peacefully but not to shy away or be apologetic about their demands.