I have suffered enough - Swartz
The municipality's HR officer says he will take the council to court and then resign, because the stress of the disciplinary action taken against him is affecting his health and that of his family.
Rehoboth's acting chief executive officer, Willie Swartz, is threatening to drag the town council to court to force them to prove that he was illegally reappointed as human resources manager.
Swartz is acting as CEO following the suspension of Christophe /Uirab upon his return from a weeklong workshop in Singapore on Sunday morning. In a statement explaining his grievances on 25 September, Swartz accused the council of a witch-hunt, which he claimed had led to public harassment of his family.
A forensic investigation into the town's affairs in January 2016 concluded that Swartz' reappointment during the government recess in December 2015 was illegal.
Swartz also faces 20 “serious” disciplinary charges related to the alleged embezzlement of more than N$13 million and losses of N$1.8 million incurred by the council.
Swartz said he had pleaded not guilty to six of these 20 charges on 1 August. According to him during this meeting a certain Mr Kwala introduced Swartz's alleged illegal and procedural appointment.
“[He] then forced the meeting to debate my legality as an employee instead of proceeding to prove the allegations against me. In short, the hearing, in which I had already pleaded, took a new twist and it was postponed to afford Kwala and council to figure out if I am an employee or not before the hearing continues,” said Swartz.
Swartz further accused the council of infringing on his family life, which had forced him to move his two daughters to different towns to spare them the abuse.
“I have suffered great defamation, pain, embarrassment, persecution and that risk and safety hazard has now extended to my person and family. I was physically attacked in my office. My wife has been diagnosed with stress and hypertension, and has been treated or hospitalised every time this hearing was postponed. Medical records are there to show the correlation between her condition and the hearing dates,” he pointed out.
According to Swartz, his wife has been attacked and victimised at her workplace, by customers of the bank where she works as well as by a United People's Movement regional councillor.
“I have been diagnosed with stress, internal bleeding that nearly took my life two weeks ago. I have suffered in the name of corruption charges which no one, from the minister, the CEO and now by extension the council is prepared to prove,” he said. He said once he had served his legal documents on the council he would also serve them with “a notice with a view to terminating my services at an agreed time”.
However, he added, this would be done on condition that the “illegal” meeting of 26 May 2016, at which he was fired, was revisited. Swartz further alleged that the record of this particular meeting appeared to be falsified.
In charge
Community activist Johannes Khachab yesterday said that Swartz had changed the locks of the CEO's office on Friday and had since ruled the staff with an iron fist.
“I was there this morning [yesterday] but some staff members told me they could not talk to me because Swartz had threatened them.
“The situation is unbearable, there are the group who are pro-Swartz and the others who want him out,” he said.
Meanwhile, /Uirab has confirmed his suspension, which he had predicted before leaving for Singapore.
“I can only say this is a witch-hunt. I mean how can you discuss misconduct in secret? You must inform the affected person of his wrongdoing. But the thing is the Swapo councillors never supported me in anything I did, so I am not surprised,” he said.
JEMIMA BEUKES
Swartz is acting as CEO following the suspension of Christophe /Uirab upon his return from a weeklong workshop in Singapore on Sunday morning. In a statement explaining his grievances on 25 September, Swartz accused the council of a witch-hunt, which he claimed had led to public harassment of his family.
A forensic investigation into the town's affairs in January 2016 concluded that Swartz' reappointment during the government recess in December 2015 was illegal.
Swartz also faces 20 “serious” disciplinary charges related to the alleged embezzlement of more than N$13 million and losses of N$1.8 million incurred by the council.
Swartz said he had pleaded not guilty to six of these 20 charges on 1 August. According to him during this meeting a certain Mr Kwala introduced Swartz's alleged illegal and procedural appointment.
“[He] then forced the meeting to debate my legality as an employee instead of proceeding to prove the allegations against me. In short, the hearing, in which I had already pleaded, took a new twist and it was postponed to afford Kwala and council to figure out if I am an employee or not before the hearing continues,” said Swartz.
Swartz further accused the council of infringing on his family life, which had forced him to move his two daughters to different towns to spare them the abuse.
“I have suffered great defamation, pain, embarrassment, persecution and that risk and safety hazard has now extended to my person and family. I was physically attacked in my office. My wife has been diagnosed with stress and hypertension, and has been treated or hospitalised every time this hearing was postponed. Medical records are there to show the correlation between her condition and the hearing dates,” he pointed out.
According to Swartz, his wife has been attacked and victimised at her workplace, by customers of the bank where she works as well as by a United People's Movement regional councillor.
“I have been diagnosed with stress, internal bleeding that nearly took my life two weeks ago. I have suffered in the name of corruption charges which no one, from the minister, the CEO and now by extension the council is prepared to prove,” he said. He said once he had served his legal documents on the council he would also serve them with “a notice with a view to terminating my services at an agreed time”.
However, he added, this would be done on condition that the “illegal” meeting of 26 May 2016, at which he was fired, was revisited. Swartz further alleged that the record of this particular meeting appeared to be falsified.
In charge
Community activist Johannes Khachab yesterday said that Swartz had changed the locks of the CEO's office on Friday and had since ruled the staff with an iron fist.
“I was there this morning [yesterday] but some staff members told me they could not talk to me because Swartz had threatened them.
“The situation is unbearable, there are the group who are pro-Swartz and the others who want him out,” he said.
Meanwhile, /Uirab has confirmed his suspension, which he had predicted before leaving for Singapore.
“I can only say this is a witch-hunt. I mean how can you discuss misconduct in secret? You must inform the affected person of his wrongdoing. But the thing is the Swapo councillors never supported me in anything I did, so I am not surprised,” he said.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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