As the walkout staged by Swapo and Independent Patriots for Change last Thursday and the 11th hour rejection of its job offer by Conrad Lutombi resulted in a leadership vacuum, the protagonists in the saga have elected to stay silent.

Lutombi’s cold shoulder has not only left the political parties at the helm of the city with egg on their face but the protracted saga of appointing a substantive CEO lasted a year in which the organisation leapt from one crisis to the next, with residents having little to show for it.

On Thursday, the City of Windhoek council failed to elect its new office-bearers after councillors representing Swapo and IPC staged a walkout, much to the disappointment of residents and invited
guests.  Swapo councillors were the first to walk out, with one of its representatives Queen Kamati indicating their non-participation in the election process. 

This was followed by another exodus of IPC councillors. Swapo has five seats, while IPC has four seats on the 15-member city council. The meeting had to come to an abrupt end as there was no quorum to continue.

In a letter seen by New Era written by the city’s legal advisor Ngatatue Kandovazu, dated 2 December, he informed then acting CEO Jennifer Comalie the election as contemplated by sections 11, 12 and 22 of the Act provides the procedural process through which office bearers are brought into the office for a year. 

“In the absence of the election, a hiatus is created which is best resolved through the calling of election as envisaged by the aforementioned sections. At this point, it is apposite to deal with section nine of the Act,” he said. 

Section nine stipulates that a member of a local authority council shall,

subject to the provision of section 13 (1) hold office as such a member from the date on which he or she is elected as a such member until the date immediately before the date on which the next election under section eight is held in respect of that local authority council but shall remain in office until the new members have made and subscribe to the oath of office and assumed duties. 

The city’s spokesperson, Harold Akwenye, yesterday responded to our request for a reaction to the impasse.

“We are waiting for a new date to be announced whereby office bearers will be elected. The elections are envisaged to take place early January. At this point in time, we are operating in a vacuum, however, Mr Faniel Maanda will be steering the ship until new management council and mayor are elected,” he said. 

New Era attempted to get clarity on the vacuum from city councillors and the organisations they represent, with little success. Kamati chose not to respond to a phone call and a WhatsApp message.

Outgoing mayor Sade Gawanas responded by sending a copy of a letter she sent to urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni.  In the letter she said: “This situation creates a hiatus for council. Being fully cognisant of this, we have since engaged all council members and will determine a date for the election to take place as soon as possible.”

“We trust you find the same to be in order and we remain available to provide clarification if so, required by your good office.”

Swapo councillor and former mayor Fransina Kahungu also declined to comment, referring all queries to Kamati. Before the conversation ended, she said they will participate in the election shortly. 

IPC spokesperson Immanuel Nashinge only sent his party’s invitation to a press conference, scheduled for today, when asked for comment on the city saga.

Nashinge last week indicated that their councillors have taken a principled decision not to participate. 

“Our councillors were not going to participate. Our councillors will remain ordinary councillors, not leadership things. They will focus on serving our people as per our mandate. We will let those who are hungry for power take over. We are not interested in power, but in the bread and butter issues of the residents,” he said. He noted that there was no point for the IPC to remain in the meeting as other councillors had already walked out. 

The marriage of convenience between Swapo, AR, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) managed the affairs of the city this year after moving their allegiances from the IPC and then instituting a vote of no-confidence in the IPC-dominated management committee (MC). 

– ljason@nepc.com.na