OMUTHIYA – The Oniipa Town Council says it has no mandate to interfere in the matter, which involves corruption-accused councillors as the matter is before the court.

Politicians allegedly cooked the recruitment of a candidate who didn’t qualify for a position

The CEO, Junius Jacobs said the council will wait for the outcome of the court process. “It is up to the court to pronounce itself, then we as council will know where we stand and the way forward. For now, may the law take its course,” briefly stated Jacobs.

The accused councillors are Thomas Matsi (72), a former local authority councillor who served as management committee chairperson, current mayor David Kambonde (47), with his deputy, Hileni Idhogela (43) being the third accused.

They were arrested in August and charged under section 35 (3) (a) and section 35 (3) (b) of the Anti-Corruption Act for using their office for self-gratification as well as providing a false document to an Anti-Corruption Commission agent.

The charges relate to a recruitment process allegedly undertaken in 2018, to which the trio are accused of having favoured an individual who scored the lowest in the interview.

Both the accused served in the management committee of the previous council, whose term ended in November last year following the local and regional elections. Kambonde and Idhogela were re-elected to serve for a second term and got elevated to mayor and deputy, respectively.

On Tuesday, the trio made their brief second court appearance in the Ondangwa Magistrate’s Court where their matter was postponed to 20 October. Their case was transferred to the regional court for prosecution.

They are out on bail of N$5 000 each.

osimasiku@nepc.com.na