Africa-Press – Namibia. THE coalition of political parties which led the Windhoek municipal council throughout this year has crumbled after parties failed to resolve their differences over the allocation of positions on the council.
After uprooting Swapo from the Windhoek council, opposition parties have failed to make things work among themselves, often squabbling over positions.
Analysts believe the infighting at the Windhoek City Council, especially among previous coalition partners, has cast doubt on the ability of opposition parties to work together to challenge Swapo at 2024’s national elections.
The Windhoek coalition was formed between the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), the Affirmative Repositioning movement (AR), the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), and the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo), with AR leader Job Amupanda as mayor.
They referred to themselves as “the progressive forces”. Although there was an agreement to rotate positions on the council among coalition partners, consensus was reached to maintain the status quo and keep Amupanda as mayor.
However, IPC leader Panduleni Itula was opposed to this consensus, although his party indicated it was not nominating a party candidate for the position of mayor.
This has led to the collapse of the coalition. A new coalition was, however, birthed between the IPC, Nudo and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), which was not part of the first coalition.
As a result, LPM councillor Sade Gawanas was yesterday elected as Windhoek’s new mayor, deputised by Nudo’s Joseph Uapingene. Gawanas replaced Amupanda, who indicated he did not want to be nominated for the position.
The new mayor was nominated by IPC councillors. Upon her election, Gawanas was handed the symbolic mayoral chain, which Amupanda has been refusing to wear.
Uapingene replaced Clemencia Hanases of the PDM. A new management committee was also elected and subsequently sworn in yesterday. It is made up of four IPC councillors, namely Jurgen Hecth, Saartie Uukule, Bernadus Araeb, and Ndeshihafela Larandja.
Uukule is a new member of the council, representing the IPC. She was sworn in to replace former councillor Desiree Davids, who was removed by the party earlier this year for allegedly influencing the process to consider her application for land.
The other councillor on the management committee is the LPM’s Ivan Skrywer. Gawanas and Uapingene are ex-officio members to the management committee. Altogether, the new leadership of the Windhoek municipal council is made up of seven councillors out of the 15-member council.
The other eight members in the opposition are made up of five councillors from Swapo, two from the AR, and one from the PDM. In her acceptance speech yesterday, Gawanas said the council should focus on delivering services to residents rather than personal egos.
Amupanda said the incoming leadership needed to do things differently to address the toxic culture of sabotage among top managers at the municipality. He said the municipality employs some of the most corrupt people in the country.
The municipality currently loses more than N$8 million per month in electricity costs for properties that are illegally connected on the city’s electricity grid with the help of city officials, Amupanda said.
He said some officials are committed to dividing councillors and fighting their personal battles through councillors. “We have a serious problem with officials who have captured the council,” he said.
Amupanda yesterday refused to provide a mayoral report. He said he had nothing to report on after the council refused to approve his mayoral action plan in May this year.
The IPC and LPM are said to have rejected Amupanda’s plan, because it resembled the AR’s manifesto. Amupanda said internal squabbles demonstrated that “there is an impossibility of co-presence” at the council.
“There are certain things that have worked in the coalition. It may not have worked out the way we have thought. It is only in Windhoek where you have restrained councillors,” he said.
Political commentator Ndumba Kamwanyah yesterday said the previous Windhoek coalition was its own enemy. He said it has demonstrated that some political parties are only focused on removing Swapo, “and they will run like headless chickens if you remove Swapo from the equation”.
“I attribute the downfall of this coalition to the personality cult of actors involved,” he said.
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