City CEO job: Councillors walk out of special meeting

A special City of Windhoek council meeting descended into chaos on Tuesday – with councillors ultimately walking out after 15 minutes – subsequently failing to discuss the controversial appointment of an administrative head for the capital.

Several previous attempts to hold critical meetings that would lead to the appointment of the CEO have been thwarted with accusations and counter-accusations amongst councillors, with politicians seemingly failing to reach consensus on how best to run Windhoek’s affairs.

When the clock struck 14:30, City mayor Sade Gawanas commenced the meeting with a prayer - much to the surprise of her fellow councillors.

“We were surprised that she opened with a prayer because she hardly does that; maybe she did it because of the nature of the meeting,” quipped a municipal insider.

After seeking divine intervention, Gawanas then gave the floor to management committee (MC) chairperson Ndeshihafela Larandja to present the MC report, which contained recommendations to restart the CEO recruitment process.

Gawanas subsequently noted the report and hit her gavel, signifying the end of the deliberations on the item.

Councillors, sources said, were shocked that there would be no discussions on the report and that it should be noted as presented.

At this point, chaos erupted and the meeting quickly degenerated into rancour, with councillors from Swapo Party, Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) and Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement all opposing Gawanas’ ruling.

Evidence

AR’s Job Amupanda took the floor to question why councillors are not given a chance to discuss the contents of the report, and further informed Gawanas that he was ready to provide evidence to corroborate his claims made during a council meeting last month accusing members from the ‘Progressive Forces’ of running the City along political lines when it comes to the appointment of the CEO.

Amupanda claimed the Progressive Forces stalled the appointment of a CEO because those in the running are perceived to be members of Swapo.

The shortlisted candidates are Conrad Lutombi, Moses Matyayi, Eino Mvula, Joyce Mukubi and Charmill Zamuee. They were interviewed last October but no appointment has been made to date. The City has been without a substantive CEO for two years.

While Amupanda was on the floor, IPC councillor Bernadus Araeb interjected on a point of order. He wanted the mayor to invoke Rule 42, which deals with procedures required to remove unruly and disruptive members from the chamber.

After Araeb, Swapo councillors also took to the floor to place it on record that they are not in support nor party to the MC report.

Gawanas then attempted to proceed with the second agenda item, which was the recruitment and selection of an executive to lead the Economic Services and Community Development department.

At this point, the Swapo councillors boycotted the meeting and walked out of the chamber, subsequently leading to the entire meeting being called off.

‘We are not your children’

During an interview on radio station Eagle FM yesterday, Gawanas said the meeting was stopped because “Swapo councillors disrupted the meeting”.

“I wrote to him [Amupanda] last week asking for proof, because he went on record, so that I can make a conscious contribution on the matter. He sent a submission which is 26 pages long at 14:15 on Tuesday while the meeting was due to start at 14:30,” she said.

She said her plan was to discuss Amupanda’s dossier after the agenda items were discussed, adding that: “Swapo councillors stood up shouting, with councillor [Queen] Kamati saying ‘we are not your children’.”

Asked why the meeting could not continue, she said: “Because there was no quorum since councillors Ilse Keister (AR) and Clemencia Hanases (PDM) also walked out”.