Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Erongo regional branch of the Independent Patriots for Change has cleared its councillor in the Henties Bay municipality of any wrongdoing.
Yesterday, the party presented a police clearance certificate of Sifried //Garoëb, stamped 9 November 2021, to the The Namibian. Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) Erongo regional chairperson Aloisius Kangulu said the party will not act against him.
“RP (Republican Party) are position-searchers, knowing well that, as per position of the coalition, they were to rotate…because of greed they opted otherwise. IPC is not moved by the greed of only two RP councillors in the whole region. We say no to greedy politicians, no to self-serving as our IPC is genuine [about the] restoration of our people’s dignity,” said Kangulu.
//Garoëb, who was an assistant credit controller at the Henties Bay municipality, was dismissed in 2018 for allegedly swindling council funds.
IPC also shared a court document of a case of housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, which was opened against //Garoëb in 2012 at Swakopmund. It was subsequently struck off the court roll in November 2018.
The mayor of Henties Bay, Lewies Vermaak, said the action by IPC is a little too late. According to him, the IPC should have acted in June, the time they received the complaint.
The slow reaction by the IPC led to the break-up of the coalition between IPC and RP. After the break-up, //Garoeb, who was a member of the management committee, became an ordinary councillor during the recent election of office-bearers.
“We already broke the coalition. Why didn’t they follow what we said in the beginning? Why didn’t they come back to us at that time? We are not going to change back now. Even if they have a police clearance, why didn’t they bring it then, why now?” questioned Vermaak.
He added that the police clearance certificate is irrelevant because what happened between Garoëb and his employer was an internal matter, not a police case.
“The council did not lay charges with the police. They solved it between themselves. Council took a resolution and the money was paid back. It was deducted from his bonus and he was released from his duties. The thing did happen, the only thing is that the council did not open a case with the police,” said Vermaak.
Vermaak added that the party will continue to work with the IPC councillor if he is willing to work with everybody to take the town forward. “We will work with him. It’s not a problem as long as we are on the same page. As long the town comes first and no hidden agendas,” said Vermaak. Contacted for comment, //Garoeb said he was going into a meeting and will only speak to The Namibian after hours.
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