Cecile Loggenberg was sent on "special leave" on Friday pending an investigation into her conduct over the past couple of years.

One of the most serious allegations was that the municipality had failed to submit an audited report to the Office of the Auditor General for the past three years and had overspent by almost N$500 000 without the council's approval.

Councillor Gruzi Goseb, who chaired the management meeting that suspended Loggenberg, said they had discovered that she had given herself a salary increase without their approval.

"Seeing that our books have not been audited for the past three years, we could not detect that she had given herself the increase.

We also found that certain companies in the town were not paying rates and taxes while 42 votes were overspent without council approval by around N$500 000," Goseb told The Namibian yesterday.

The increase was made barely a month after Loggenberg joined the Municipality as treasurer.

Loggenberg has denied the allegations.

She said the five per cent increase was across the board for all staff and although she only joined the municipality on June 1 she had qualified to get it together with other staff on July 1 of the same year.

"I know what it is all about.

The chairperson of that specific meeting is not fond of me.

I will appeal and cite victimisation.

They must know their case, because I won't leave it like that," she vowed.

The management committee requested the town's Chief Executive Officer, Werner Iita, to launch an investigation into Loggenberg's conduct.

They argued that an external audit was a legal requirement but had not been done over the past three years.

Goseb said Loggenberg's suspension was not victimisation.

"If the records are clean, it will be back to normal.

However, if there are irregularities that warrant further steps, we will take them.

It must be clear that the suspension is not a punitive action.

It is just to freely collect the information," he said.

Goseb said the current situation at the council, especially given the lack of auditing, warranted serious introspection by all councillors.

"We need to ask ourselves whether we are qualified to be called councillors," he said.

Interestingly, the town's Mayor, Mike Tjirare, claimed he did not know about Loggenberg's suspension.

"Honestly speaking, I don't know about it.

Apparently it happened but I have not been to the office and don't know," he said.

The last audit done at Omaruru was during the tenure of former CEO Johannes Xoagub.

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