Grootfontein councillors can appoint their own

The Grootfontein Town Council has passed a resolution that will allow it to conduct employment recruitment including selection and interviews for all vacancies at the council. Grootfontein public relations officer Lukas Salomo confirmed this to Nampa in an interview on Monday. Salomo said the resolution was taken by former councillors regarding the filling of vacancies and the selection of suitable candidates to become a task conducted by councillors themselves. However, according to the spokesperson this resolution is in conflict with the normal administrative procedures of the council. He said the current team of councillors were made aware of these abnormalities in their council resolution, but that they insist on following their own resolution. Salomo said that by law, the recruitment, selection and job interviews are supposed to be the primary functions of the human resources department at the Grootfontein municipality. “However, in principal, our councillors can now conduct the selection process as per the resolution which was taken,” he said. The head of the Human Resources Department at Grootfontein Municipality, //Angtage Tsuseb, said the council passed such a resolution last Tuesday. He said some officials in his department are now frustrated and feel obsolete because their daily administrative duties have been taken away by the council. He said the council in April this year had instructed his office to advertise 31 vacancies for general workers, drivers, meter-readers, heavy vehicle operators and a junior accountant. Tsuseb said the advertisement and the list of names was done by his office for the selection process to take place. “It is then when the council on Tuesday last week announced that they will conduct the selection process and possible job interviews themselves,” he said. Tsuseb has been working at the Grootfontein Municipality’s human resources department since 2003. Contacted for comment, Grootfontein Town Council’s Management Committee deputy chairperson, Abisai Haimene, said there was a council meeting last Tuesday, but no resolution related to the filling of vacancies was passed. “Anything further, I don’t know,” he said before ending the conversation. Grootfontein mayor Emma Taukuheke said she was tired of Nampa’s negative reports about Grootfontein. “When I call you for positive stories, you simply don’t come to Grootfontein but you are quick to write negative stories. I am tired of your negative reports,” she said and cut the call short. Grootfontein is served by six councillors – four from the Swapo Party and two from the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). The chairperson of the Council’s Management Committee, Johan Spangenberg, resigned after the town’s CEO, Charles Kariko, was reinstated in his position last month. Kariko was reinstated with immediate effect after Otjozondjupa Regional Governor Otto Ipinge had used his influence to bring him back. Ipinge said the council had no case against Kariko on the charges of alleged sexual harassment he had been facing since 2013. It is alleged that Spangenberg was the key man at the council and speculation is rife that the town councillors now cannot function without him. OTJIWARONGO NAMPA