Activists want Uutoni out, minister slams councillors

In a back-and-forth spat, community activists yesterday called for the removal of urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni from office for ignoring burning issues, while the minister, on his part, blamed councillors who march with demonstrators to demand services that they themselves should be providing.

Community activists from the Omaheke, Khomas, Otjozondjupa, Hardap and Erongo regions converged in Windhoek where they spoke in one voice, accusing Uutoni of looking the other way when daily concerns are raised with him.

They bemoaned debt-collection tactics of municipalities, which they said are dehumanising, as well as maladministration, corruption and poor service delivery in towns across the country. The activists said going forward, they would bypass Uutoni and file their complaints with President Nangolo Mbumba and Vice-President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah directly.

Mass demonstration

Veronia Mokaleng from the Gobabis Right To Shelter group said corruption is the biggest problem at the municipality.

"Last week, the Gobabis community held a mass demonstration and the councillors refused to face the people. I have a petition that they did not want to receive, and we decided to camp at the Gobabis municipality for five days,” she said.

“We've listed maladministration, corruption and the failure to address the community in the petition, which the mayor of Gobabis, Melba Tjozongoro, refused to accept. We are sitting with cases of disciplinary hearings from a report from the ministry, indicating that the municipality has lost up to N$112 million in revenue over five years."

To this, Uutoni told Namibian Sun that he visited Gobabis in April and tried to intervene and normalise the situation between the councillors.

"I met with councillors and advised them to put their differences aside, to start implementing their programme as planned, to strengthen their relationship with the community to establish good public relations and also to provide my office with a report about the auditing investigation report by the ministry,” he said.

“On the same day, I met with staff members of the council who raised their concerns to me. I directed councillors to deal with those issues. From 19 to 22 August, I organised an induction workshop for both Gobabis and Walvis Bay to train them on good governance, administration management and the interpretation of the Local Authority Act.”

In Gobabis, only three councillors attended the training workshop, the minister said, adding that he had hoped all the councillors and managers would attend.

‘Do your job!’

Speaking at Outapi yesterday, Uutoni accused councillors of joining the public to complain that the government is not working, when they themselves are part of the government.

A visibly irritated Uutoni said he is aware of the chaos in many municipal councils, but his efforts to remedy the situation have not yielded fruitful results. “You are shouting ‘hey, hey’. Now, ask yourself: Who are you going to complain to? You have been appointed to deliver services. Do your job!” he fumed.

Uutoni said the behaviour of some local authority councillors is an indication that his efforts to educate them on good governance are all in vain. “The same councillors I just provided with an induction workshop went back to their community and started running in the streets to the office of the town council. Just imagine, a councillor! After I provided them with training in terms of good governance and administrative management, now they’re on social media toyi-toying,” he said.

According to the minister, he is running out of patience with the management issues at local authorities.

“It is of utmost importance to always have in mind that our communities expect you to deliver the services with the public resources they entrusted to your care. These public resources include the infrastructure, funds, equipment and the staff complement,” he said.