Shaningwa treats councillors like ‘water boys’ and ‘tea girls’

Joseph Kauandenge, who represents the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) on the Windhoek city council, has launched a scathing attack on Urban and Rural Development Minister Sophia Shaningwa, saying she has betrayed the Namibian people and is turning city councillors into “water boys” and “tea girls”.
Kauandenge, in a press statement on half of Nudo, was responding to recent allegations of underhand dealings in allocating seven city plots to the one company.
It was reported last week that Shaningwa allegedly forced the Windhoek Municipality to sell seven plots to one company, when the council only wanted to sell two plots.
Shaningwa reportedly wrote a letter the to the city council late last year questioning why the council only wants to sell two plots to Shililifa Property, a firm that is said to want to build flats in the area.
“It is no secret that the said minister was on record urging municipalities not to sell large tracts of land to a single individual or company, but rather to make sure that the little land available is shared among many recipients.
“It is also no secret that the city wanted to sell only two plots to this company as per the minister’s prior request not to sell large parts of land to only one individual,” Kauandenge said.
“It therefore comes as the biggest betrayal by the minister when she, through her permanent secretary, wrote to the council on 16 July 2016 to increase the plots to be sold to this one company to seven plots,” he wrote.
He said athe minister had reduced councillors to mere window dressing.
“The minister has become a Judas of the century through her action of ignoring her own directives and making us as councillors of the city of Windhoek the laughing stock of the decade.
“It is incomprehensible that the same person who came out guns blazing and vowed to bring an end to unbalanced land allocation is the very same person who is now dishing out land left and centre as it was Christmas cookies to a single company while the majority of our people are looking for land,” he wrote.
He said Shaningwa, through this action, had opened a back door to opportunists and unscrupulous elements to acquire large tracts of land in the city.
He accused Shaningwa of disrespecting councillors and turning them into her “water boys” and “tea girls”.
STAFF REPORTER