Africa-Press – Namibia. RATE payers from Windhoek have announced that they will be handing over a petition on Monday, 28 July 2025, at the Katutura Customer Care Centre, demanding answers from the Mayor of the City of Windhoek and the CEO on the outcome of an audit prepared on their alleged defective billing system, for which they say they expect arrests within the municipality.
Sean Gariseb, a social activist, explained that about 387 accounts are adversely affected by the billing system currently, which the City of Windhoek detected internally, and that 15 of those on that list have approached the courts as they need clearance certificates to sell their property but find it difficult due to the escalation of their debts.
“The audit report, which was gathering dust on Moses Matyayi’s desk, was signed off by Mr. Fanuel Maanda while he was acting CEO, while Moses Matyayi was on compassionate leave and recently out of the country. The Management Committee will consider that report in the coming weeks. Even Minister James Sankwasa has still not been provided with the report, but we want to inform the Minister the report from Deloitte clearly states that the billing system is a problem and the cause of escalating debts. That’s the principal finding. City of Windhoek must not provide us with a reduction in the findings of Deloitte,” Gariseb demanded.
He further added that the report by Deloitte on the defective billing system has a bearing on the criminal charges the affected rate payers laid against heads of departments in the City of Windhoek who allegedly knowingly subjected unsuspecting residents to financial dishonesty.
“We are expecting arrests to be effected in the coming weeks or months. We have a friendly warning to the technocrats of the City of Windhoek: even if you run, you can’t hide. Those who have been responsible for subjecting residents to financial burden — despite us questioning how the behaviour of accounts can be justified — no accounting logic can justify how an account can jump from N$3,000 to N$200,000. They always lied to us it’s a pipe burst or interest of 120 days, 90 days, etc. We even engaged accountants to determine and explain how journal adjustments operate; nothing justifies the escalation of our accounts even when we are paying over and over,” Gariseb said.
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