Africa-Press – Namibia. The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development has cancelled the swearing-in ceremony of all newly elected political office bearers, which was scheduled for today, until further notice.
There are therefore no active local and regional councillors in the absence of the swearing in of councils.
The regional council and Local Authorities elections took place on 26 November, and elected councillors are required to take the oath of office before commencing their official duties and the swearing-in is done by a magistrate. This normally takes place within seven days after the election.
However, a notice seen by this publication informed regional and local authorities that the new date for the swearing-in ceremony will be communicated in due course.
“Reference is made to the Circular dated 31 October 2025. Your good office is hereby informed that the swearing-in ceremony of all newly elected Political Office Bearers on 03 December 2025 has been cancelled with immediate effect,’’ read the notice signed by the executive director of the urban and rural development ministry, Wilhelmine Shivute.
Kavango West chief regional officer, Mathews Singambwe, when asked how this would affect the council, said they can’t perform any council duties pending the official swearing-in.
“At the moment, we have no councillors as they are just councillor elects, they won’t get salaries this month if they aren’t sworn in and we can’t use them to perform any official events or activities because we can’t pay their sitting allowances as they are not councillors in the council yet, they remain honourable councillors elect until sworn in and the decisions of the region will stand still,’’ Singambwe said.
Last week, urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa was reported to have said in a local media that he had communicated to the Ministry of Justice and Labour Relations that 3 December will be the swearing-in date for the country. Sankwasa, by virtue of his position, can evoke the provision of Section 92 of the Act for the minister to appoint representative administrators over all local authorities but cannot appoint a representative for the regional councils, nor can the President.
“We assume and say governors can take over the running of councils. But the law comes into question whether governors are authorised to run regional councils. They are not,” he said last week.
In terms of the current law, governors are just there as the heads of the regions, not regional councils. Attempt to get a comment from Sankwasa failed as his phone went unanswered.
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