City bosses ordered to restart CEO recruitment process

The City of Windhoek management committee has ordered the municipality’s executives to immediately restart the process of appointing a new CEO.The directive comes at a time when the council is split in half - with some councillors pushing for the process to be restarted while others feel the recruitment process that took place last year must continue as is.It is understood that Ndeshihafela Larandja, the chairperson of the management committee, is pushing for the process to be restarted and outsourced, much to the dismay of mayor Sade Gawanas. In an internal memo obtained by this publication, Larandja wrote to the acting CEO O’Brien Hekandjo, directing him to implement a resolution by the management committee in November 2021 to annul the existing recruitment process for the CEO and begin afresh.“Kindly implement the said resolution. Also, explore the possibility of procuring the services of external consultant and recruitment agency to rerun this process independently from potential influence and interference,” Larandja wrote.When contacted for comment yesterday, she simply said: “I hope the memo in your possession is authenticated by a stamp and signature. On that basis, I have no further comment”.Hekandjo was not available for comment. Not onMeanwhile, Gawanas was not impressed by the developments, adding that she will be calling a special meeting so the council can discuss the matter and put it to rest for good. “This doesn’t sit well with me. Council has never dealt with matters raised by councillor Amupanda and the human resources department, that is why I am calling for a special council meeting for council to state its case and address this matter and close it,” she said.Earlier this year, Amupanda claimed that there was clear manipulation of the City of Windhoek CEO recruitment process, and that there is a collective resolution to block five candidates on the shortlist from being appointed due to their alleged Swapo ties.At the time, he had also claimed that the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) - under Dr Panduleni Itula - had handpicked their own candidate, “a white man from the coast”.“The discussion in general was that the coalition must get their own candidate, so they want to restart the process so they can get their own person. I cannot be party to this. IPC is trying to manipulate people," he said.The IPC also felt that then acting CEO George Mayumbelo was not supposed to form part of the shortlisting committee, while questions have been raised on why acting department of human capital and corporate services head Archie Nikanor was not part of the committee.jemima@namibiansun.com

City bosses ordered to restart CEO recruitment process

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Namibian Sun 2026-08-11

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City bosses ordered to restart CEO recruitment process

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Namibian Sun 2026-08-11

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