A pressure group under the banner Kaoko Civil Society Organisation (Kaciso) has threatened to shut down the offices of the Kunene Regional Council today, citing exclusion of indigenous communities from public contracts and promotional positions in the region.
In a letter addressed to urban development minister Erastus Uutoni, seen by this paper, Kaciso invited the minister to the region to familiriase himself with the situation on the ground.
“We, as the representatives of indigenous communities in Kaoko [present day northern Kunene], have run out of patience and therefore decided to officially padlock the office of the regional council with instancy on 13 June 2023. We have consulted tolerably and the impression so far is that no one is concerned in attending to our uproar,” reads a section of the petition.
The group is also going to stage a peaceful protest on the same day to register their frustrations.
“Until such a time that this office deems it fit to respond to our concerns, the office [regional council] will remain closed,” Kaciso threatened.
“We are being labelled as poor and that we are unable to take anyone to court; that we are illiterate and useless… our education, health and mining sectors, tenders, just to mention a few, are now in the hands of those who hail from other regions because they are well-placed in the to drain our resources to their advantage… enough is enough. We can’t take it anymore,” said the group.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Kunene’s chief regional officer George Kamseb was unaware of the planned protest, and efforts to solicit a reaction from Uutoni also proved futile, as his phone went unanswered.
Earlier this year, Kunene businesspeople claimed exclusion in major State tenders, saying unlike in other regions, indigenous inhabitants do not enjoy preference in the awarding process.
This sentiment was echoed by Opuwo Urban constituency councillor Ueitjerevi Ngunaihe at the time.
According to him, it is understandable for Namibians to enjoy equal opportunities wherever they find themselves.
What is disturbing, however, is that some regional tenders are limited to residents of specific regions, while in Kunene, tenders are open to everyone, seemingly to the exclusion of indigenous business community.
“Why is it that they qualify for small tenders, ranging from N$50 000 to N$100 000? But for big tenders involving millions, they apparently can’t ‘fill in their forms properly’!” he charged.
Meanwhile, the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) distanced itself from Kunene’s purportedly flawed tender awarding process.
“The CPBN is guided by the Public Procurement Act of 2015, as amended. All bids facilitated by the CPBN are published in the local print media and on the CPBN website and social media platforms,” was their spokesperson Johanna Kambala’s response.