Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement councillor at the City of Windhoek, Ilse Keister, has filed a motion of no confidence in the council’s management committee, saying it does not inspire confidence in both the council and the residents.
The motion, which is expected to be tabled at the council meeting on 28 July 2022, was leaked to The Namibian this week. However, the spokesperson of the AR says the movement did not sanction Keister to file the no-confidence motion.
In her motivation, Keister accuses the management committee (MC) of deliberately ignoring resolutions in terms of section 26 of the Local Authority Act.
The Windhoek municipality MC consists of Independent Patriots for Change and Landless People’s Movement councillors.
“When members of the council request answers from the members of the management committee, there is hardly an answer to these questions,” she added.
Keister said as a result of this “failure” by the management, the residents remain hopeless, creating an impression that council is unable to execute its duties.
She proposed that a new MC be elected to ensure that the council resolutions are implemented and restore the trust and confidence of the residents.
However, AR movement spokesperson Simon Amunime said the movement was not consulted on the motion.
“I can confidently tell you that the movement has not sanctioned anybody or any representative to the City of Windhoek to go and file for a vote of no-confidence in anybody. We, as the AR movement, have not taken a resolution directing whosoever to go and pass a vote of no confidence in the MC or any other structure at the City of Windhoek,” Amunime said.
Amunime said if Keister has filed for a vote of no confidence, she has done so in her own personal capacity. He said he consulted Keister on the matter on Tuesday but she did not clearly indicate whether she had filed the vote of no confidence.
“As the spokesperson of the AR movement, I can confidently tell you that we are not interested in the squabbles at the City of Windhoek[…],” he said.
Amunime added that AR condemns Keister and anyone involved in an agenda aimed at causing division at the City of Windhoek.
Furthermore, Amunime said if Keister is involved in filing the motion of no confidence, the AR leaders are going to call her in and discipline her.
Interestingly, former Windhoek mayor Job Amupanda supports Keister’s comment.
He added that this year alone he tabled seven motions, four of which have been passed.
“This is just another motion. The fact is that we have no confidence in this MC that is responsible for the current chaos. There are people trying to undermine and weaken our movement but we are resolute.”
“I am proud of councillor Keister. The motion has been submitted and will be discussed by council,” Amupanda said.
Keister did not answer calls and text messages sent to her yesterday.
Contacted for comment, of the MC chairperson Ndeshihafela Larandja said she had not seen the motion but heard about it in the corridors.
“Maybe it was leaked but it was supposed to be confidential until the documents are submitted to the council,” she said.
Larandja added that she suspects that the vote of no confidence is a response to her instruction to the acting chief executive officer of the City of Windhoek to implement the MC decision to re-start the process of recruiting a new substantive chief executive officer for the city.
“That is the last resort they have in order to ensure that their favourite candidate is hired. Because once the vote of no confidence is passed, members will be nominated to constitute the MC.”
“So, they will now review that decision and they will also appoint their own acting CEO, who I know will be Mr [George] Mayumbelo then they can easily push for [Conrad] Lutombi. That is where the fight is coming from. They are in cahoos with Mr Mayumbelo, especially the AR,” she said.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
