{"id":40386,"date":"2023-03-02T09:43:52","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T09:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse"},"modified":"2023-03-02T09:56:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T09:56:18","slug":"last-minute-city-talks-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse","title":{"rendered":"Last minute City talks collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>A four-pillar proposal to address the Windhoek management committee leadership impasse crumbled like a sand-made castle on Tuesday, after the councillors failed to reach consensus.<\/p>\n

It was the third time the municipal council failed to fully elect political office bearers, in three months.<\/p>\n

The management committee is currently occupied by three Swapo councillors.<\/p>\n

They are Austin Kwenani, Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma and Queen Kamati.<\/p>\n

Opposition parties represented in the council, however, have refused to come to the party, primarily because they believe a strategic body such as the MC cannot be dominated by one political party.<\/p>\n

Several suggestions were made to remedy the standoff.<\/p>\n

They are contained in a document that was presented at a special councillors\u2019 meeting on Monday, seen by this paper.<\/p>\n

The first option was that the two remaining MC vacancies be filled and that the MC chairperson is nominated from the two incoming members of MC.<\/p>\n

The second option proposed that: \u201cThe currently elected MC members (all three representing the Swapo Party), relinquish one seat, thereby creating three MC vacancies, of which said vacancies are to be filled by a representative from LPM, AR and PDM.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third option was for the three Swapo councillors to relinquish their MC posts to create five vacancies to be filled by a representative from each party.<\/p>\n

The fourth option was that the mayor, deputy mayor and all members of MC resign, \u201cand that the nomination of MC members starts afresh.\u201d<\/p>\n

The councillors also resolved to seek legal counsel regarding the resignations.<\/p>\n

However, when it was all said and done, the meeting failed to yield the desired outcome.<\/p>\n

According to insiders, Swapo councillors refused to budge to the demands, which appear inalienable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is anticipated that all councillors will consult with their respective party principals and\/or make further proposals for consideration, with the aim to reach consensus and conclude the office bearer elections by 3 March 2023, as per the ministerial deadline,\u201d reads part of the deal.<\/p>\n

On the night, Windhoek mayor Joseph Uapingene requested the vote to be postponed to tomorrow, 2 March.<\/p>\n

This is all while urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni is running out of patience, over shenanigans that have engulfed the biggest municipal council in the land.<\/p>\n

Efforts to get a comment from Uutoni, after his deadline lapsed, were futile yesterday, as his phone went unanswered.<\/p>\n

The presiding district magistrate, Venatius Alweendo, also expressed his disappointment in the councillors and informed them not to waste time and call him to their event, if their house is not in order.<\/p>\n

For the first time since independence, there was no outright majority party on the 15-member council.<\/p>\n

Swapo and the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) dominate the council with five and four seats respectively, while the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) and Landless People\u2019s movements have two seats apiece.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) and Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) have a single seat each.<\/p>\n

It has meant councillors have been forced to form coalitions in order to run Windhoek, across the political divide.<\/p>\n

Reaction<\/p>\n

The state of affairs in Windhoek has inspired little confidence among residents and analysts alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protracted troubles at the City of Windhoek are a serious disappointment to the electorate who believed and thought their material conditions will improve after ejecting Swapo from power. The current squabbles affect governance stability and service delivery,\u201d pundit Rui Tyitende lamented.<\/p>\n

He said in the absence of functional MC, council resolutions will not be passed and implemented.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the sake of progress, these elected representatives need to reach a compromise to this impasse to avert further distrust in political institutions that have a sole mandate of providing critical services to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine the biggest local authority not having a substantive CEO and a fully constituted management committee. This is a serious leadership and management crisis that needs to be solved immediately,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

What is more disappointing to the political scientist is that the stalemate is not necessarily about an ideological gulf between the parties, but egos and self-interests at play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe residents of Windhoek are the victims of these frivolous acts and infighting. Whatever happens, the electorate will remember the shenanigans come 2024 and 2025 as there will be political repercussions. What success stories will the opposition be able to sell to the voters?\u201d he wanted to know.<\/p>\n

His sentiments reverberated through another analyst, lawyer Natjirikasorua Tjirera.<\/p>\n

It is Tjirera\u2019s view that what is happening at the City of Windhoek is just beyond any sane human being\u2019s comprehension.<\/p>\n

According to him, the councillors and their respective parties do not have the interest of Windhoek\u2019s residents and electorate at heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe capital city of the land is being held hostage by a group of self-serving politicians who are failing to provide a solution for this impasse. The minister must put his foot down. In the event that the councillors fail to agree on the way forward, the minister should invoke section 92 of the Local Authorities Act and dissolve the council,\u201d Tjirera said.<\/p>\n

He went a step further, suggesting that: \u201cCouncillors should also be barred from receiving their monthly and sitting allowances until such time that they sort their differences out. There is simply no good reason for them to continue receiving that money.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. A four-pillar proposal to address the Windhoek management committee leadership impasse crumbled like a sand-made castle on Tuesday, after the councillors failed to reach consensus. It was the third time the municipal council failed to fully elect political office bearers, in three months. The management committee is currently occupied by three Swapo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":40385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-40386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nLast minute City talks collapse - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A four-pillar proposal to address the Windhoek management committee leadership impasse crumbled like a sand-made castle ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Last minute City talks collapse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A four-pillar proposal to address the Windhoek management committee leadership impasse crumbled like a sand-made castle ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-02T09:43:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-02T09:56:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677737644.73.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Last minute City talks collapse\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-02T09:43:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-02T09:56:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse\"},\"wordCount\":893,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677737644.73.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/last-minute-city-talks-collapse\",\"name\":\"Last minute City talks collapse - 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