Council to get legal opinion on Swapo’s withdrawal issues

THE Windhoek City Council has agreed to get outside legal opinion on the current muddled council set-up created by the withdrawal of four Swapo councillors, and the subsequent withdrawal of the withdrawal.

All five opposition member councillors walked out of a meeting earlier this month, claiming illegal politicking by Swapo.They disagreed with the inhouse legal expert’s interpretation of the Local Authorities Act that four Swapo councillors removed by the party and reinstated within days still occupied their positions, despite these processes not being advertised in the Government Gazette.With three of the reinstated councillors absent from that meeting, the opposition walkout left the meeting without a quorum to continue.The four were withdrawn by the Swapo Khomas Regional executive, but their action was subsequently reversed by Swapo’s top leadership.The Swapo hierarchy said the move had not been carried out procedurally.The four booted councillors were withdrawn for allegedly not toeing the line over the re-appoinment of Council CEO Niilo Taapopi, who contract expires this year.They wanted the CEO post to be advertised in the interest of transparency, but the other Swapo councillors felt Taapopi should just be allowed to continue.In a full-house, 15-member meeting on Thursday, Mayor Matheus Shikongo, following ongoing debate around the matter, instructed CEO Niilo Taapopi to seek an independent legal opinion on the matter, while in the meantime ordering the continuation of the meeting.Shikongo, one of the four whose legality is being questioned, said he himself had over the past few weeks questioned the processes followed in removing and reinstating him.’I have bombarded the CEO. And I have not only spoken to him, but have also got advice elsewhere. The [Swapo] Politburo pronounced itself, and on that all of us are [back] here,’ he said.While this allowed for the meeting to continue, three councillors – the CoD’s Herbert Schultz, the DTA’s Ilme Schneider and RP’s Nico Smit – wanted it officially recorded that, based on the outstanding legal opinion, they had reservations about continuing with the meeting.One opposition councillor, the UDF’s Werner Claasen, was removed from the chambers after he accused Swapo of trying to bulldoze their way through the meeting despite the law. ‘Tell the truth! This is about two different groups in Swapo. That’s what this is about,’ Claasen exclaimed while being led out of the chambers.