Africa-Press – Namibia. ABOUT 300 Witvlei community members recently held a peaceful demonstration over what they call “irregularities” at the village council’s offices.
Arebeb Eugene, a member of the Voice of the Voiceless group, says residents have for long been observing the poor performance of the current chief executive officer (CEO), Hendrik Muisoor, involving corruption, favouritism, and divide-and-rule tactics within the council.
“We urgently demand that all planned and new projects and tenders are put on hold until the appointment of the new CEO.
“To date we have not witnessed any fruitful delivery of service that we could state to be visible in terms of what is stated in the Witvlei Village Council Strategic Plan 2016/17 to 2021/22 if the community demands proof of such to be convinced,” he says.
Eugene says the community should be involved in consultations with stakeholders as revenue collection does not take place at the council.
“Why is revenue collection not happening, and are the staff stopped from implementing the cutting list for revenue collection?
“Why did the council fail to collect the unpaid outstanding accounts of certain people and the council office bearers?” he asks.
Eugene claims Muisoor has allocated himself a camp illegally for farming and that there is no transparency in the tender allocation process.
“The council is in possession of the Public Procurement Act as a guiding legal document.
“The local tenders are not being advertised in local newspapers for everyone to see, and they handpicked their favourites without following the correct tender procedures,” he says.
Muisoor attends the ministry’s funded training scheduled for staff members but does not transfer skills to employees, Eugene says.
“He denies some employees the opportunities to upgrade themselves through such a good initiative – mostly 80% funded by the ministries, not himself,” he says.
Muisoor says the council would soon engage the media on the issue.
“Trust you will understand as we go through the processes,” he says.
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