Walvis reverses JJD's Erongo RED board appointment

The Walvis Bay Municipal Council voted to remove local businessman Johny Johnson Doeseb as one of its representatives on the Erongo Regional Electricity Distributor (Erongo RED) Board of Directors on Tuesday, following a nearly 40-minute debate over whether councillors could legally proceed without correspondence required by the management committee.

The matter dominated an ordinary council meeting on Tuesday evening as councillors disagreed over the interpretation of the committee's recommendations and whether letters referred to in the report had been properly tabled before council.

Council's decision follows a legal challenge by Namibia Liquidations, which argued that Doeseb is an unrehabilitated insolvent and therefore disqualified from serving as a company director under the law.

In correspondence addressed to the Municipality of Walvis Bay, the liquidators maintained that his appointment was invalid and supported their claim with a High Court sequestration order and the trustee's certificate of appointment.

In its latest agenda, the management committee recommended that the council write to Doeseb regarding the "current state of affairs" before the ordinary council meeting on 7 July.

The committee further recommended that, should the letter not be provided, council proceed with withdrawing Doeseb's appointment, elevating alternate board member Kashindinge Lukas Nghipuilipo to full board membership and appointing a new alternate representative for the remainder of the current term ending on 30 March 2027.

However, several councillors maintained that the required correspondence had not been placed before the council.

One of the councillors argued that the council could not deliberate on documentation it had not received.

"Recommendation one falls out because I cannot make a decision without getting to know the content of the letter. On what basis?" Councillor Patrisia Munyala said.

The debate centred on whether forwarding the correspondence to the corporate services department fulfilled the management committee's recommendation.

Special council meeting

The chairperson of the management committee, Ephraim Shozi, maintained that the letters had been submitted through the appropriate administrative channels.

"The letters were not sent to me. They were sent to Corporate Services," Shozi told council.

Some councillors argued that, because the correspondence had not been tabled before council, recommendation one could no longer be implemented and council should therefore proceed directly with recommendations two, three and four.

Deputy mayor Mina Hangula called for the matter to be deferred, while councillor Sharon Roodt proposed convening a special council meeting to allow members time to consider the correspondence.

Mayor Johannes Shimbilinga reminded councillors that any resolution adopted would remain council's responsibility.

"There will not be any staff member that will be responsible for the decision of council. Whatever you are going to resolve here will remain the decision of council," the mayor said.

Earlier in the meeting, during the discussion on the adoption of the previous meeting's minutes, Shozi instructed chief executive officer Victoria Kapenda not to speak on council matters, telling her to join politics if she wanted to take part in council matters.

When the issue came up later in the meeting, Kapenda declined to comment.

"I will not speak on the matter, Your Worship," Kapenda said.

During the debate, Shozi further stated that the letter had indeed been sent to Doeseb regarding the current state of affairs and that Doeseb had responded with three attached letters.

"The email is in writing. In that email correspondence, the board member replied to corporate services in writing with all three attachments. So the letters are there with the corporate services department."

Following the debate, the mayor called for a vote on whether to refer the matter back to the management committee or proceed with removing the board member, because the required correspondence had not been made available to the council before the ordinary meeting.

Council ultimately voted to proceed with recommendations two, three and four of the Management committee's report, removing Doeseb as one of the Municipality of Walvis Bay's representatives on the Erongo RED Board of Directors.

As part of the resolution, Nghipuilipo will assume full membership on the board, while the council will appoint a new alternate representative for the remainder of the current term, which ends on 30 March 2027.