Africa-Press – Namibia. GROOTFONTEIN mayor Talitha Garises has told urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni to go to court if he believes the Grootfontein CEO Kisco Sinvula was not procedurally suspended.
Garises said this in a six-page letter to Uutoni yesterday. Sinvula was suspended on allegations of maladministration last week, however, he maintains that his suspension was not done in accordance with the law.
Uutoni backed Sinvula this week, in a letter to Garises on Wednesday stating that the council should rescind its decision to suspend the CEO because the suspension was not done in compliance with the law.
The Local Authorities Act requires a town council to first obtain written approval from the minister of urban and rural development when considering suspending its CEO.
However, in her letter, Garises said the council’s decision to suspend Sinvula will remain valid and in place. “We are restoring the glory of our town,” Garises said.
She also enquired why the minister had kept silent on the happenings at Grootfontein, and chose to “defend Sinvula, who is accused of corruption”. Garises said Uutoni did not act last year when the town was left without leadership.
“The wolves from Windhoek continued to disintegrate our beloved town,” she said in her letter.
Garises said this year Uutoni was informed about serious allegations of insubordination against Sinvula, as well as its implications for service delivery.
“You looked on. I wrote you a letter on 23 March 2022, and informed you that section 14 [1] [a] of the Local Authority Act was breached and that there was gross insubordination. In that the suspended CEO has refused a lawful instruction to hold a management committee and council meetings,” she said.
“Till today it has become your norm to not respond to my letter of 23 March. You simply allowed the breach of [the] act without intervening,” she said. Garises said she and her fellow councillors are accustomed to Uutoni’s ignorance of correspondence sent to him from the Grootfontein municipality.
“I had tears in my eyes when I read a newspaper article that seems to have quoted you as having said that God should intervene and save Grootfontein,” she said
Garises accused Uutoni of having a selective approach when dealing with violations of the law, which is contributing to chaos. In his letter to Garises this week, Uutoni said his prior approval was not sought before Sinvula’s suspension.
He directed the town council to comply with the law, and added that if the council has acted in violation of the law it should cancel its decision and act in strict compliance with the Local Authorities Act.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Garises confirmed having authored the letter in response to Uutoni’s letter this week. Sinvula refused to comment on the allegations made against him by the mayor, saying the letter has nothing to do with him. Uutoni did not answer calls to his mobile phone, or to text messages sent to him at the time of going to print.
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