Swapo gives LPM ultimatum over fired councillors

Swapo lawyers yesterday wrote to the Landless People’s Movement-dominated //Karas Regional Council, demanding the reversal of the dismissal of three Swapo councillors.

Three constituency councillors, Lazarus Nangolo, Suzan Ndjaleka and Taimi Amakali, were sacked from the council last week amid a squabble for positions in the management committee.

All members of the Swapo Party, the trio represented the Oranjemund, !Nami #Nus, and Karasburg West constituencies respectively.

The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) members in the council are Willem Labuschagne (Keetmanshoop Rural), Anseline Beukes (Karasburg East) and Jeremias Goeieman (Berseba).

At a press conference last week, //Karas Regional Council chairperson Joseph Isaacks accused the dismissed councillors of various transgressions.

"The offences committed [range] from absconding from meetings without valid reasons and, deliberately and with malicious intent, trying to sabotage the council [to] refusing to fill vacant positions in the management committee with the intention of causing the council to fail [and being] unable to justify their absence," he said.

Exploiting laxities

Yesterday, Swapo lawyer Sisa Namandje wrote a letter to Isaacks, demanding that he reverse the dismissals by no later than 10:00 this morning.

Namandje, a Swapo politburo member, said Section 10 of the Regional Councils Act, on which the dismissals were based, does not give the council power to fire councillors.

According to him, councillors may only ‘vacate’ their regional council positions under four circumstances, and dismissal is not one of them.

Exploiting laxities in the regional council’s conduct, the lawyer said the council meeting which resolved to fire the Swapo councillors was not held publicly - as is required by law. Also contrary to the law, the council did not inform the regional governor about the meeting, he said.

“The decision was motivated by irrelevant considerations and ulterior purposes,” Namandje wrote.

Swapo demanded that the council revoke the dismissals or undertake that the dismissals will not be implemented, the letter read.

If that does not happen, Swapo plans to bring an urgent application before the High Court on Monday, 5 February, to challenge the dismissals.

Bullying

The Swapo councillors told Namibian Sun that they are being bullied and deliberately frustrated by LPM.

"I passionately serve my community in the !Nami #Nus constituency and can give an account of all programmes and projects. It's out of political frustration that LPM wants to bully and insult us,” Ndjaleka said.

She continued: “They fail to run the affairs of the region. We informed them several times that we are willing to serve on the management committee that is constituted with both party's consensus.”

Don't appreciate sacrifices

According to Isaacks, the councillors "refused" on several occasions to join the management committee, thus warranting the decision to suspend their memberships, all benefits and remuneration immediately.

"When an elected member from the council is absent for three consecutive meetings, then such councillor relieves him/herself from the council,” he said.

“The three Swapo councillors didn't appreciate the sacrifices the LPM councillors made and just complained about [subsistence and travel allowance] and other personal benefits. Swapo and its councillors are not serious with this region," he said in a statement.

He added that the councillors who do not originally hail from the region have ‘less interest’ in its well-being and that of its people.

"We also observe that the Swapo Party regional head [Matheus Mumbala] is also from the north and has no interest in the people of this region. That is why Swapo couldn't care less if the management committee is functional or not," he said.

Swapo has described Isaacks’ remarks as reeking of tribalism.

Isaacks said criminal charges will be laid against the councillors if they refuse to vacate council offices.

No authority

During a press briefing, Mumbala said Isaacks has “no authority" to dismiss councillors, and insisted that all remaining councillors' salaries be terminated.

"We want to hear where he gets the power to terminate elected members, and which law did they use? No one has the mandate to remove elected councillors,” he said.

Yesterday, Mumbala said only political parties are allowed to recall their own councillors.

“We call on the minister of urban and rural development to intervene with immediate effect. On 31 January [yesterday], our Swapo Party councillors will not receive their salaries, therefore we demand that the whole //Karas Regional councillors' salaries must be suspended," he said.