Steven Klukowski
KEETMANSHOOP – Keetmanshoop Urban constituency councillor Maxie Minnaar says the chairperson of the //Kharas Regional Council Jan Scholtz, (Swapo member) has no authority and mandate to stop any programmes from her office.
The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) councillor opined as such when reporting back on her first 100 days in office during a recent press conference that took place at Keetmanshoop.
“On 17 April, he (Scholtz) wrote me a letter in which he accused me of causing chaos with the distribution of drought relief food in my constituency and furthermore directed Beatus Kasete, the chief regional officer, to temporary suspend all government programmes for Keetmanshoop urban constituency,” she said.
Minnaar further expressed concern that Scholtz is victimising her simply because she is a LPM councillor. She claims it seems there are concerted effort by certain Swapo councillors in the region to derail her development agenda for Keetmanshoop urban constituency.
Documents in possession of New Era show that Scholtz previously requested Minnaar to provide him with a report on the previous unruly distribution of drought relief food at Ileni informal settlement. The content of the communique indicates that a large crowd desperately looking for food gathered at the distribution point which defeats the purpose of the current lockdown regulations.
In addition, it has been alleged that unemployed youth, instead of council employees distributed the food. “I have directed the chief regional officer to temporarily shift the management and distribution of any government support programmes from Keetmanshoop urban constituency office to the //Kharas council office until such time an amicable solution has been found for the situation,” Scholtz explained in the letter.
The regional chairperson explained that food would be distributed door-to-door onwards as was previously the case.
Minnaar explained that, since Ileni is always a difficult point for food distribution, her office has requested assistance from the Namibian Police to maintain law and order on that specific day. “We must all know and acknowledge that, since the country is under a state of emergency, all constitutional as well as administrative rules are relaxed, hence the operation of any office or programme will not be the same as it was outside the state of emergency,” she said.
The constituency councillor called on the regional political leadership to put their political differences aside and show maturity for the sake of the suffering masses.
– sklukowski@nepc.com.na