Africa-Press – Namibia. Cheers of triumph erupted in the Walvis Bay council chambers Tuesday evening when the council resolved to terminate the services of RedForce debt-collection management.
The motion was tabled by Swapo councillor Ephraim Shozi at a special council meeting held on Tuesday evening.
“Administration went ahead without council’s blessing to advertise the bid for a debt-collection service, and awarded a five-year contract to RedForce. There was no public consultation. The ratepayers were only informed via notices about the appointment of RedForce,” Shozi said. RedForce’s presence in the Walvis Bay municipality has been a thorn in the flesh for residents and politicians alike since last year.
Over the past few months, pressure on council to eject RedForce had climaxed due to alleged high charges by the debt collector for work done on behalf of the municipality.
It has also not been sitting well with residents, who argue that RedForce should be nowhere close to the municipality, as it has a fully-fledged debt recovery department.
RedForce was awarded the tender to provide services to the municipality last year.
However, the same tender is now being scrutinised by the council, as they did not give any approval for its services.
Divorce
A huge number of residents eagerly waited in the public gallery for the proceedings to end on Tuesday, as they have been fighting tooth and nail since last year to get rid of the debt collector.
Tabling the motion, Shozi said the decision to award the tender to RedForce was never approved, nor was a resolution taken by council.
Shozi however acknowledged that a presentation on debt collection was made to council by RedForce in March 2022 but they never endorsed it.
According to Shozi, council is disturbed that RedForce is performing the duties and functions of staff members while the staff are receiving monthly salaries.
“How fair is this? We, as, council never took a resolution to outsource the disconnection and reconnection of municipal services, inspection and reporting of illegal connections, water metre readings, customer data collection, blacklisting of debtors and development and drafting of a strategic debt collection implementation plan,” he said.
Another cause of consternation is that confidential information of ratepayers was shared with a third party without their consent, which is unethical, he said.
He then wanted to know who was responsible for initiating the process of appointing the debt collector without approval from council as well as the details of the budget funds allocated to the same.
Ministerial intervention
According to him, all these questions and “irregularities need a thorough investigation”.
Shozi then proposed that council request assistance from the auditor general and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development.
“Due to all these questionable matters, I move that the contract with RedForce be terminated with immediate effect. Administration must be instructed to provide a detailed report within seven days to the council with details of how much money has been paid to RedForce in terms of commission and water cutoff training system expenses, among others,” he said.
No opposition
Shortly after the motion was passed, deputy mayor and Independent Patriot for Change (IPC) councillor Saara Mutondoka attempted to quash rumours circulating that her party appointed RedForce.
“I would like to diffuse this narrative. IPC or its representative are not administrators of the municipality,” she dismissed.
However, her remarks were interrupted by the residents, chanting: “Do not politicise the issue, madam”.
Mutondoka could not finish her remarks, as pandemonium ensued in the gallery.
Meanwhile, Walvis Bay mayor Trevino Forbes tried to calm residents and explained that according to the standing rules, an unopposed motion had been passed without discussion or deliberation.
“This one contains legal and financial implications. It must be referred to the management committee meeting,” Forbes stated.
His explanation was again met with objections from the public and councillors who had thronged the chamber.
Credit policy
During an earlier protest, residents’ representative Elvis Goseb said, “The credit control policy of the Walvis Bay Municipality was never tabled at the National Assembly after a revised draft in January 2022.
“The document was never signed off by the council and adopted. The credit-control policy document, therefore, is an illegal document enforced upon the residents of Walvis Bay.”
At the time of going for print yesterday, RedForce had not responded to questions sent to them.
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