City fails to appoint Kanime’s successor in agreed time

OGONE TLHAGE WINDHOEKThe City of Windhoek’s council has failed in its attempts to appoint a City Police chief to succeed Abraham Kanime after it adopted a resolution to appoint a new police chief by at least June 2021.While the ‘progressive forces’ within council had succeeded in clipping Kanime’s administrative powers in March, attempts to find his replacement are yet to yield results.Council documents show that it was resolved that the appointment be activated as a matter of urgency as far back as 16 March.TimelineCouncil adopted a timeline in which it wanted to, amongst other things, submit an activation for the filling of the position to the management committee by March. A selection committee was then meant to be composed and appointed by April, while proposed names ought to have been submitted to Windhoek acting CEO George Muyambelo and Namibian Police inspector-general Sebastian Ndeitunga by May.A list of the shortlisted persons was then meant to be submitted to the management committee in June, while the new City Police chief was meant to start serving in his or her position this month on a notice basis.Council had also resolved that the acting CEO be mandated to engage the Namibian Police, the Namibian Defence Force and the Namibia Central Intelligence Services to nominate the selection committee, and that the selection committee submit proposed names of suitable candidates to Mayumbelo and Ndeitunga.Mayumbelo was also expected to determine modalities around recruiting the new City Police chief.“Due to the selection processes not being explicitly stipulated within neither the Windhoek municipal police service regulations nor the municipal police service recruitment and employ”, the acting CEO would be “mandated to determine the methods and modalities of the selection of the City Police head”, the resolution read.Neither council management committee chairperson Fillemon Hambuda nor Windhoek mayor Job Amupanda responded to queries on what delayed the appointment.Lucrative packageKanime had landed a new three-year contract worth about N$6.6 million, New Era reported in April 2020.Due to go on retirement next month, he agreed to the offer, which translates to around N$2.2 million per year and a monthly package of a little over N$182 000.Kanime’s reappointment - according to some insiders at the City of Windhoek - was done in violation of the municipal police service regulations.The High Court had, however, ruled that Kanime has to reapply for his position after the court ordered that his three-year extension, which was approved by the previous, Swapo-dominated council, was illegal.This is the result of an application instituted by previous Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) council member Ignatius Semba, who asked the High Court to stop the council from implementing the decision to reappoint Kanime as City Police head.

City fails to appoint Kanime’s successor in agreed time

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Namibian Sun 2026-05-11

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City fails to appoint Kanime’s successor in agreed time

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Namibian Sun 2026-05-11

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