Opuwo councillors take oath, Swapo to head to court

OPUWO town councillors have finally been inaugurated – despite an impending High Court application by the Swapo Party which wants the election results declared null and void.

More than three weeks after the Local Authority elections, Magistrate Harry Salionga swore in the seven councillors at a ceremony yesterday afternoon. The process stalled after the poll results were announced, with Swapo crying foul over the legitimacy of the voters’ roll.The DTA’s Uaurikua Kakuva has been elected Mayor, with the Congress of Democrats’ Katjiiukirue Mutuezu as his deputy.Pieter de Villiers of the CoD is the Chairperson of the Management Committee, the DTA’s Ngohauvi Kavetu the Deputy Chair and Nudo’s Japiavi Mbinge the other management committee member.Swapo councillors Kahimbona Musaso and Eino Amukeshe will serve as ordinary members.Town Clerk Libertus Mbaumba said he was pleased that the matter was settled saying, “We have done it!” The town’s affairs have been in limbo since the elections.Salionga halted the swearing-in of the new councillors after Swapo lodged a complaint with the Magistrate’s Court that the voters’ roll contained the names of people not resident at the town.But failing a legal order to stall the swearing-in, relief Magistrate Leopold Hangalo last week decided that the inauguration should go ahead.He said Swapo could contest the election results even if the councillors were sworn in.Swapo legal counsel Dirk Conradie confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that the party would file a case with the High Court by Thursday asking that the election be declared “null and void”.Conradie said there was proof that the party had lodged complaints with the Magistrate’s Court and the Electoral Commission prior to the elections, but that the parties had failed to act on the matter.They, along with the other political parties who contested the elections, will be cited as respondents in the case.In the meantime, the new Opuwo councillors will this week undergo induction training by the Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing.Mbaumba said he hoped that the first council meeting would be held by next week.The process stalled after the poll results were announced, with Swapo crying foul over the legitimacy of the voters’ roll.The DTA’s Uaurikua Kakuva has been elected Mayor, with the Congress of Democrats’ Katjiiukirue Mutuezu as his deputy.Pieter de Villiers of the CoD is the Chairperson of the Management Committee, the DTA’s Ngohauvi Kavetu the Deputy Chair and Nudo’s Japiavi Mbinge the other management committee member.Swapo councillors Kahimbona Musaso and Eino Amukeshe will serve as ordinary members.Town Clerk Libertus Mbaumba said he was pleased that the matter was settled saying, “We have done it!” The town’s affairs have been in limbo since the elections.Salionga halted the swearing-in of the new councillors after Swapo lodged a complaint with the Magistrate’s Court that the voters’ roll contained the names of people not resident at the town.But failing a legal order to stall the swearing-in, relief Magistrate Leopold Hangalo last week decided that the inauguration should go ahead.He said Swapo could contest the election results even if the councillors were sworn in.Swapo legal counsel Dirk Conradie confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that the party would file a case with the High Court by Thursday asking that the election be declared “null and void”.Conradie said there was proof that the party had lodged complaints with the Magistrate’s Court and the Electoral Commission prior to the elections, but that the parties had failed to act on the matter.They, along with the other political parties who contested the elections, will be cited as respondents in the case.In the meantime, the new Opuwo councillors will this week undergo induction training by the Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing.Mbaumba said he hoped that the first council meeting would be held by next week.