Leaderless at Luederitz after suspensions

SWAPO has suspended all six of its town councillors at Luederitz, throwing the council into chaos as no one is left to make decisions on crucial issues such as the recent floods that ravaged the harbour town.

Swapo’s Luederitz District Co-ordinator Eric Endjala confirmed yesterday that he had suspended all the councillors with immediate effect while investigations were conducted by a team appointed by the party. “They are suspended.It is an internal party matter and I don’t want to make allegations,” he said when asked what why the group was suspended.The Namibian understands that infighting among the councillors over management positions in the Council and alleged mismanagement led to their suspension.They are divided on who should be elected as Mayor on Monday.A crucial meeting was scheduled to take place last night to discuss the future of the councillors.The suspended councillors are Mayor George Shimaneni, Deputy Mayor Emilia Amupewa, Management Committee Chairperson Simon Haindongo, his deputy Wilhelmina Sylvester, Management Committee member Pesca Mapale and additional member Johannes Valombola.When contacted for comment, Swapo Regional Co-ordinator and Regional Councillor for Karas, Hilma Nicanor, said she was not aware of the new developments.She said she was attending the National Council in Windhoek.The suspended group are people who Nicanor pushed though before the 2004 Local Authority elections.She was accused of changing the party list provided by the supporters after internal polls.Only two people among those elected at the district conference to serve on the Luederitz Town Council made it on to the final list after Nicanor allegedly “doctored” it.David Shoombe topped the original list followed by Silas Antonius, Jan Scholtz, Eric Endjala, Pesca Mapale, Wilhelmina Sylvester and Hilma Johannes.The supporters claimed that they forwarded the names to Windhoek through Nicanor but the final list only had Sylvester and Mapale on it.Former councillors Amupewa, Valombola, Ipinge and Haindongo all reappeared on the list and Shimaneni was added to the list.The dissatisfied members staged a demonstration against the handling of the nomination process and accused Nicanor of being the “think-tank behind all the mess”.Nicanor denied the allegations and countered that the disgruntled members were out of order and that she expected the party to discipline them.The Swapo supporters claimed the councillors who had been brought back had failed in their duties during the five years that they were in charge.They alleged corrupt practices and claimed they were “just power hungry”.It was alleged that the councillors used vehicles for private purposes, failed to maintain road infrastructure and mismanaged finances.The DTA’s spokesperson on local authorities, McHenry Venaani, said the suspension had left Luederitz without leadership as only the DTA representative, Jennifer van den Heever, who was not on the management committee, was left.”We are aware that the town of Luederitz was recently hit by some floods and some key documents of administrative nature must be signed to authorise certain activities,” Venaani said.He called on Local Government Minister John Pandeni to intervene.”They are suspended.It is an internal party matter and I don’t want to make allegations,” he said when asked what why the group was suspended.The Namibian understands that infighting among the councillors over management positions in the Council and alleged mismanagement led to their suspension.They are divided on who should be elected as Mayor on Monday.A crucial meeting was scheduled to take place last night to discuss the future of the councillors.The suspended councillors are Mayor George Shimaneni, Deputy Mayor Emilia Amupewa, Management Committee Chairperson Simon Haindongo, his deputy Wilhelmina Sylvester, Management Committee member Pesca Mapale and additional member Johannes Valombola.When contacted for comment, Swapo Regional Co-ordinator and Regional Councillor for Karas, Hilma Nicanor, said she was not aware of the new developments. She said she was attending the National Council in Windhoek.The suspended group are people who Nicanor pushed though before the 2004 Local Authority elections.She was accused of changing the party list provided by the supporters after internal polls.Only two people among those elected at the district conference to serve on the Luederitz Town Council made it on to the final list after Nicanor allegedly “doctored” it.David Shoombe topped the original list followed by Silas Antonius, Jan Scholtz, Eric Endjala, Pesca Mapale, Wilhelmina Sylvester and Hilma Johannes.The supporters claimed that they forwarded the names to Windhoek through Nicanor but the final list only had Sylvester and Mapale on it.Former councillors Amupewa, Valombola, Ipinge and Haindongo all reappeared on the list and Shimaneni was added to the list.The dissatisfied members staged a demonstration against the handling of the nomination process and accused Nicanor of being the “think-tank behind all the mess”.Nicanor denied the allegations and countered that the disgruntled members were out of order and that she expected the party to discipline them.The Swapo supporters claimed the councillors who had been brought back had failed in their duties during the five years that they were in charge.They alleged corrupt practices and claimed they were “just power hungry”.It was alleged that the councillors used vehicles for private purposes, failed to maintain road infrastructure and mismanaged finances.The DTA’s spokesperson on local authorities, McHenry Venaani, said the suspension had left Luederitz without leadership as only the DTA representative, Jennifer van den Heever, who was not on the management committee, was left.”We are aware that the town of Luederitz was recently hit by some floods and some key documents of administrative nature must be signed to authorise certain activities,” Venaani said.He called on Local Government Minister John Pandeni to intervene.