Gobabis deputy mayor not wanted by own association

A San woman who was elected deputy mayor of the Gobabis municipality yesterday is facing resistance from within her own association due to undisclosed reasons.

Dina Fillemon was placed second on the gazetted list of the A Right to Shelter Foundation of Namibia, a residents’ association at Gobabis.

Her high placement made her eligible for a council seat and ultimately the deputy mayor position.

Fillemon was not available for comment yesterday as the person who kept answering her phone said she was not around, while the association’s leader, Veronica Mokaleng-Kuzeeko, did not respond to calls or messages.

Last Friday, the association attempted to remove her and replace her with Aletta Kooper who appeared in ninth position on the association’s list.

“Dina was not happy about that, but A Right to Shelter Foundation wanted to do that. So actually, that was the bone of contention,” a source says.

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) reportedly objected to the change, noting that Kooper had not been gazetted. The magistrate presiding over the swearing-in ceremony then halted the process.

During the swearing-in ceremony, Mokaleng-Kuzeeko again tried to remove Fillemon.

“The swearing-in was supposed to start in the morning, but then there was a problem brought up by the association A Right to Shelter, and the magistrate adjourned until 12h00,” Gobabis municipality spokesperson Frederick Uietele says.

Uietele says the magistrate later proceeded strictly according to the Electoral Act.

“He called the names that were gazetted and given by the ECN so they could be sworn in. Five people came. Two did not come to be sworn in,” he adds.

Three councillors from Swapo were sworn in, along with one from the Landless People’s Movement and one from the A Right to Shelter Foundation.

Fillemon, despite her association’s attempts to block her, was sworn in as deputy mayor.

Uietele has confirmed that two councillors from A Right to Shelter refused to be sworn in. The two are Mokaleng-Kuzeeko and someone only known as Ngarizemo.

Another source told The Namibian yesterday that Mokaleng-Kuzeeko wanted to remove both Fillemon and Ngarizemo to replace them with Kooper and a man identified only as Lukas.

“Dina is not that literate and does not have access to information. The Right to Shelter claimed that Dina and Ngarizemo were withdrawing,” the source says.

“This information fortunately reached Dina and Ngarizemo, and that’s when they wrote to the magistrate to say they are not withdrawing and wanted to be sworn in.”

The source says the matter appears more like victimisation rather than politics.

“To me there was nothing political. I feel pity for the San lady, because they were giving her a lot of words like ‘you are illiterate, you cannot read’,” the source says.

“Why did they put her there in the first place if she cannot read? She was being victimised and forced to resign. But many people from the San community came in the morning to stand by her and say that this is the person who is going to be sworn in.”

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