{"id":68437,"date":"2024-05-10T17:53:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T17:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/walvis-suspends-two-managers"},"modified":"2024-05-10T18:03:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T18:03:50","slug":"walvis-suspends-two-managers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/walvis-suspends-two-managers","title":{"rendered":"Walvis suspends two managers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>The Walvis Bay Town Council on Wednesday suspended its finance manager Frans !Gonteb and credit control general manager Johanna Shidute, amidst the ongoing RedForce saga.<\/p>\n

The suspensions come after the council passed a motion to terminate the services of RedForce debt collection company, following pressure from residents two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

The municipality is owed about N$378 million by residents and businesses, which RedForce is tasked to collect. Council contracted Advocate Richard Metcalfe to investigate the legality of the contract that was signed by acting CEO John Esterhuizen on behalf of the municipality.<\/p>\n

During a series of meetings, the council questioned how the contract was awarded by the administration without their approval. Due to the discontent around the awarding of the contract, councillors then suspended the two managers on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Initially, the council indicated the suspensions were affected to allow for a full investigation into the appointment of RedForce debt management and all matters pertaining thereto.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil wishes to make it pertinently clear that no imputations of any nature are being made against the suspended employees. Their suspensions have been affected to allow for full and unimpeded investigation of the appointment of RedForce and their operations as speedily as possible,\u201d a statement issued by council states.<\/p>\n

However, shortly after, Walvis Bay mayor Trevino Forbes, in a letter seen by New Era, questioned the suspension, asking for the reinstatement of the two employees.<\/p>\n

Forbes said that he, as the chairperson of the council, together with the CEO and corporate services manager, consulted with their line ministry on procedures to be followed for suspensions.<\/p>\n

According to him, the ministry advised council should follow the correct procedure as per the Local Authority Act and refer the matter to the management committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to those reasons, I strongly feel the correct process was not followed; therefore, ask the acting CEO to stop the suspension immediately and follow the guidelines of the Act,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Confirming his suspension yesterday, !Gonteb said he did nothing wrong and that he followed the correct procedure. However, Metcalfe, in a letter, stated the suspension was done correctly as stipulated by the Local Authority Act. According to him, the memorandum from the mayor references the incorrect interpretation provided by \u201cthe ministry\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to Section 31 of the Local Authorities Act 23 of 1992, as amended, certain powers can be delegated by municipal or town councils. However, there are exceptions outlined in the Act, such as making regulations, approving estimates of revenue and expenditure, determining rates and charges, borrowing money and appointing certain officials,\u201d Metcalfe states.<\/p>\n

He said the suspensions cannot be delegated, as the Local Authorities Amendment Act 3 of 2018 Section 31(3) allows management committees to delegate powers with written approval from the council and under specified conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSection 31(4) states that the council or management committee cannot be stripped of its power to withdraw decisions made by the delegate. Therefore, the council has the authority to suspend staff members despite any delegation of powers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, municipal workers yesterday questioned the suspensions, stating that Esterhuizen should also be relieved from his duties, as the RedForce saga allegedly happened while he was the acting CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that RedForce falls under the department of !Gonteb and Shidute, but Esterhuizen is the gatekeeper of the administration and rightfully, he should also be suspended. Council during the N$24 million saga suspended the former CEO along with the two managers for further investigations. Why are we also not following the same process,\u201d employees questioned.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Namibia. The Walvis Bay Town Council on Wednesday suspended its finance manager Frans !Gonteb and credit control general manager Johanna Shidute, amidst the ongoing RedForce saga. The suspensions come after the council passed a motion to terminate the services of RedForce debt collection company, following pressure from residents two weeks ago. The municipality […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":68435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-68437","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":"\nWalvis suspends two managers - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Walvis Bay Town Council on Wednesday suspended its finance manager Frans !Gonteb and credit control general manager ...\" \/>\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\/walvis-suspends-two-managers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walvis suspends two managers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Walvis Bay Town Council on Wednesday suspended its finance manager Frans !Gonteb and credit control general manager ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/walvis-suspends-two-managers\" \/>\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=\"2024-05-10T17:53:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-10T18:03:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/05\/sm_1715351464.531137.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=\"3 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\/walvis-suspends-two-managers#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/walvis-suspends-two-managers\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Walvis suspends two managers\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-10T17:53:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-10T18:03:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/walvis-suspends-two-managers\"},\"wordCount\":591,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/walvis-suspends-two-managers#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/05\/sm_1715351464.531137.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\/walvis-suspends-two-managers#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/walvis-suspends-two-managers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/walvis-suspends-two-managers\",\"name\":\"Walvis suspends two managers - 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