Hardap governor owes council thousands

HARDAP governor Katrina Hanse-Himarwa owes the Mariental municipality N$16 000, The Namibian has established.

The last payment Hanse-Himarwa made to the municipality was in April.Following her last payment Hanse-Himarwa apparently made arrangements with the council’s credit control division for a late payment. Despite the outstanding municipal account, water and electricity supplies to the governor’s house have not been cut. Some residents who complained to The Namibian demanded answers from the Town Council why Hanse-Himarwa is treated ‘differently’ than other residents whose water supply is suspended for owing the council as little as N$200. ‘Why is the council treating her differently when they even cut off water supply to houses of pensioners who are in arrears with their municipal accounts,’ one person asked. Hanse-Himarwa last week made a partial payment of N$10 000 following the public complaints, The Namibian was reliably informed. The council’s chief executive officer, Paul Nghiwilepo, declined to comment yesterday.’We keep our customer account information confidential, therefore we’re not at liberty to discuss it with the media and any third party,’ Nghiwilepo said water supply is not suspended if people make arrangements for late payment. ‘If such an agreement is made we require from the customer to pay half of the unpaid municipal bill depending on the arrears amount and want them to keep a clean sheet on the current account while paying off the arrears,’ Nghiwilepo said. Approached for comment yesterday, Hanse-Himarwa said: ‘I don’t owe anything.’