Africa-Press – Namibia. POLITICAL parties have questioned how the Walvis Bay municipality’s chief executive officer and three other officials were reinstated.
This comes after the council resolved last week to reinstate the town’s CEO Muronga Haingura, general manager Augostino Victor, housing and properties manager Jack Manale and property clerk Connie Summers.
The reinstatements were approved at an extraordinary council meeting held last Wednesday after council considered the outcome of the external auditors investigations and not those of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
“As the investigations by the external auditors had been concluded and despite any further investigations or action as contemplated (under 2 above), the suspension of all officials as per extraordinary council meeting resolution 4.2 dated 12 December 2020, be lifted with effect from 1 September 2021,” said the letter reinstating the officials that was seen by The Namibian.
The four were suspended last December amid allegations of the misappropriation of N$24 million from the mass urban land servicing project. At the time, council said it was suspending the four allow for investigations by the ACC to be conducted unhindered and without interference.
The council did not explain whether they have been cleared of the suspension. The four officials were suspended with full salaries and benefits. Swapo information mobiliser for Walvis Bay rural constituency Bartholomeus Patrick believes the suspensions were politically motivated because the officials are being reinstated, yet the report has not been made public.
He added that the suspension was a waste of ratepayers money and the party is worried at how public funds are spent by political office-bearers. “They spent money on the external auditor, acting allowances and paid people on suspension who were not delivering any service to the community,” said Patrick.
The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) also questioned the procedures followed to reinstate the four officials. The party’s acting national spokesperson, Eneas Emvula, said that neither the party’s leadership at Walvis Bay, nor the LPM operative secretary at head office had received any communication on how the four were reinstated.
The decision was made while the party’s chair on council is vacant as a result of the death of its councillor Stanley Alfredo Bikeur who passed away earlier this month.
“We find the reinstatement in the absence of an investigation report to all affected parties very unfortunate and undermining the spirit and letter (sic) of the concerned majority of the Walvis Bay residents,” said Emvula.
The party promised the residents that it will get to the bottom of what transpired and what legal procedures justified the reinstatement of the officials.
Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement’s national spokesperson, Kanepolo Amunime, accused the municipality of not being transparent in their dealings for not releasing the external audit report. Council has not released the report, a month after it was released.
“What is happening in terms of the audit report is very disappointing because the leadership must take the public into confidence. It’s a public document and we don’t see why there should be any delays,” said Amunime.
Amunime was in Walvis Bay over the weekend to strategise with AR’s leadership in Erongo on how to get the municipality to make the audit report public.
“There is nothing secretive about a report. It’s not a report card of your health status. It is a public document. I can hide my HIV status because it’s a private matter.
“But [with] a report of a public entity that is established with relevant legislation and the Local Authorities Act, there is nothing like that. It seems there are corrupt people who are protecting each other,” he said.
The four officials have been reinstated, while Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigations are ongoing. It is not clear how they will execute their duties if their laptops and mobile phones are still with the ACC. Mayor Trevino Forbes told The Namibian the municipality will issue a statement this week.
