KEETMANSHOOP – //Kharas Regional Council chairperson, Joseph Isaacks on Friday announced the dismissal of three Swapo councillors with immediate effect, for allegedly having committed various offences.
Isaacks said the trio was relieved of their duties after a resolution was taken during a special council meeting on Thursday.
He said the councillors’ contracts had been terminated and their benefits and remunerations were immediately suspended.
They are Oranjemund constituency councillor Lazarus Nangolo, Karasburg West constituency councillor Taimi Kanyemba, and !Nami#Nûs constituency councillor Susan Ndjaleka.
“The council will communicate further to the councillors about the handing over of council property, we will also communicate with the electoral commission regarding the three vacant positions in the regional council,” Isaacks said.
The politician said the offences committed by councillors range from absconding from meetings with no proper and valid reasons as per section 10 of the Regional Councils Act, sabotaging the council, and refusing to fill the position of the management committee.
“They have failed to uphold the Constitution and the law of the country, honestly, sincerely, and to the best of their ability. Since they took the oath of office, the councillors failed in that. These three councillors have been holding us hostage and at a point we need to say enough is enough,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Swapo Party regional coordinator for //Kharas, Matheus Mumbala on Thursday during a press briefing said the three councillors were nominated by Swapo and elected by electorates, adding that the chairperson has no right to terminate their employment.
“These councillors are not working for Isaacks or the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), they are working for the community that elected them and the government. We want to know where they got the power to terminate elected councillors, no one in this country has the right to fire a member elected by the community. We call on the acting chief regional officer not to implement illegal things,” stressed Mumbala.
On Friday Isaacks said the Regional Councils Act no 22 of 1992, section 10 gives provision on how a councillor can vacate his or her office even though they were elected.
Other council members are Berseba constituency councillor Jeremias Goeieman, Karasburg East constituency councillor Anseline Beukes, and Keetmanshoop Rural constituency councillor Willem Labuschagne – all from the Landless People’s Movement.
– Nampa