RUNDU – Rundu deputy mayor Toini Hausiku has relinquished her mayoral position to take up the last idle position in the management committee ahead of the June 7 deadline that government set.

Rundu has been without a management committee due to infightings and rejections of nominations by some Swapo council members to complete the structure of the committee.

The impasse affected the town council’s work of delivering services to its more than 63 000 residents – leading to the recent resignation of town acting CEO Sikongo Haihambo in frustration.
Urban and Rural Development Minister  Peya Mushelenga last month threatened to suspend the entire Rundu Town Council if its management committee is not complete by  June 7.

Councillor Hausiku was sworn in by Magistrate David Munsu as the third member of the management committee on Friday, thereby completing the composition of the management committee in terms of the Local Authorities Act.

Hausiku voluntarily relinquished her position as deputy mayor on May 28, a position she was duly elected to after the mid-term elections held late last year.

Hausiku – wife of Swapo deputy secretary general Marco Hausiku – is now an ordinary council member, having served as deputy mayor from February 7.

Hausiku said she was relinquishing her position as deputy mayor for the sake of the town’s residents who were affected by the lack of a functioning management committee.

According to councillor Hausiku, the letter from Urban and Rural Development Minister  Peya Mushelenga of May 15 asking the council to resolve the matter surrounding the completion of the management committee by  June 7, prompted her to take this necessary action.

At a council meeting held yesterday, the Rundu Town Council management committee elected Annastasia Antonio as its chairperson to serve the remainder of the term.
“The council will however operate without a deputy mayor henceforth, until further notice,” Haihambo noted.