Purging claims rock Walvis municipality
JEMIMA BEUKES
WINDHOEK
Several officials in the Walvis Bay municipality say management members aligned to Swapo are being purged from senior positions. This comes after the acting property manager Ephraim Nambahu was relieved from that position last Friday.
He served for less than three months.
Nambahu has since returned to his substantial position of town planner. Known as an avid Swapo member, he confirmed his removal yesterday.
"Yes, it is true. The details thereof I cannot share with you," he said briefly when contacted for comment.
“It seems the new councillors are on a mission to purge officials linked to Swapo. They are just preoccupied with trying to dig up old dirt instead of working to improve the conditions in the town,” an official employed at the municipality said.
The move to axe Nambahu was described as an attempt by the Independent Patriots for Change-led council to gain total control over the affairs of the municipality. But the IPC dismissed the accusations, calling them farcical.
The source said there are also trust issues between councillors and the management of the municipality.
Efforts to get comment from mayor Trevino Forbes proved futile, while the municipality’s spokesperson Caty Sheya did not respond by the time of going to print.
New brooms
One of the first moves the new council made upon being sworn-in was to halt the sale of about 200 plots in order to scrutinise the procedures.
The town has been marred by alleged irregularities as far as land allocation is concerned.
In December, three senior staff and a junior staff member were suspended at the municipality pending an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The employees are municipality CEO Muronga Haingura, general manager of community and economic development Augustino Victor, manager for property and housing Jack Manale and Constance Summers, a property clerk.
The suspension came after the ACC raided the four officials’ offices and seized equipment including laptops, desktops and cell phones on 9 December 2020.
The ACC is investigating allegations of corruption in relation to the alleged lack of transparency and unaccounted funds believed to belong to the mass housing project.
WINDHOEK
Several officials in the Walvis Bay municipality say management members aligned to Swapo are being purged from senior positions. This comes after the acting property manager Ephraim Nambahu was relieved from that position last Friday.
He served for less than three months.
Nambahu has since returned to his substantial position of town planner. Known as an avid Swapo member, he confirmed his removal yesterday.
"Yes, it is true. The details thereof I cannot share with you," he said briefly when contacted for comment.
“It seems the new councillors are on a mission to purge officials linked to Swapo. They are just preoccupied with trying to dig up old dirt instead of working to improve the conditions in the town,” an official employed at the municipality said.
The move to axe Nambahu was described as an attempt by the Independent Patriots for Change-led council to gain total control over the affairs of the municipality. But the IPC dismissed the accusations, calling them farcical.
The source said there are also trust issues between councillors and the management of the municipality.
Efforts to get comment from mayor Trevino Forbes proved futile, while the municipality’s spokesperson Caty Sheya did not respond by the time of going to print.
New brooms
One of the first moves the new council made upon being sworn-in was to halt the sale of about 200 plots in order to scrutinise the procedures.
The town has been marred by alleged irregularities as far as land allocation is concerned.
In December, three senior staff and a junior staff member were suspended at the municipality pending an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The employees are municipality CEO Muronga Haingura, general manager of community and economic development Augustino Victor, manager for property and housing Jack Manale and Constance Summers, a property clerk.
The suspension came after the ACC raided the four officials’ offices and seized equipment including laptops, desktops and cell phones on 9 December 2020.
The ACC is investigating allegations of corruption in relation to the alleged lack of transparency and unaccounted funds believed to belong to the mass housing project.
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