Stalled Opuwo town council waiting for Swapo challenge

A LEGAL battle could be in the offing over the swearing in of new town councillors at Opuwo.

While indications are that Swapo is considering launching a High Court bid to oppose the local authority election results, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Nangolo Mbumba, who represents the Kunene area, said on Wednesday that the decision still rested with the party’s national leadership. “The decision to go to court or not to go to court should not be done at a local authority or regional level, but must be done by Swapo headquarters,” said Mbumba, “It is for the leadership as a whole to decided whether it is worth it, or to quarrel over it.”Swapo claims that the voters’ roll was fraudulent and contained the names of people not resident at the town.Magistrate Harry Salionga has given the party’s regional office until Monday to provide concrete evidence that it has brought a case before the High Court challenging the elections results.Failing this, he has said he would take a decision on whether or not to swear in the elected councillors.”My major concern is that we can’t have a town without councillors.How will they function?” he said.Yesterday, the Congress of Democrats’ Kunene Regional Chairperson, Mbeumuna Muhuka, presented Salionga with a petition on behalf of the opposition parties, pressing him to swear them in.”The alleged irregularities by the Swapo Party does not warrant the delay of the swearing-in process of the councillors for the Opuwo town.The parties concerned are committed to the course of legal procedures but not to allow for any exercise of comradeship in the favour of one political party,” reads the petition.The DTA has also enlisted legal advice to push for the new councillors to be inaugurated soon.The party’s administrative secretary, Rudolph Kamburona, said that it was unacceptable that the process was being stalled indefinitely.Swapo petitioned the town magistrate, Harry Salionga, last week to hold off on the inauguration of new councillors based on claims that more than 200 people registered as voters were not resident at the town.A Police spot-check has shown that at least 25 of those listed were not bona fide voters.Salionga told The Namibian that he found that the ruling party had a legitimate claim in questioning the registered electorate.In the election in which 1 834 of the registered 3 104 people voted, Swapo, the DTA and the Congress of Democrats all obtained two seats on the council, while one went to Nudo.Town Clerk Libertus Mbaumba told The Namibian that the delay in swearing in the new council had put the running of the town’s affairs in a precarious situation.”It’s really not a good.We had hoped to have had a meeting already.There are decisions that need to be taken.I hope it will be resolved soon,” he said.The DTA’s Kamburona said that it was happy with the two seats it had obtained through the election, but refuted claims that the party was involved in underhanded tactics to boost its votes.Kamburona said it was commonplace for people to hold domicile in one town but to work in another.Nudo’s acting regional chairperson, Heinz Maundu, said that the Magistrate’s decision to indefinitely postpone the swearing in of the newly elected councillors was one-sided because the other parties were not consulted beforehand.”The decision to go to court or not to go to court should not be done at a local authority or regional level, but must be done by Swapo headquarters,” said Mbumba, “It is for the leadership as a whole to decided whether it is worth it, or to quarrel over it.”Swapo claims that the voters’ roll was fraudulent and contained the names of people not resident at the town.Magistrate Harry Salionga has given the party’s regional office until Monday to provide concrete evidence that it has brought a case before the High Court challenging the elections results.Failing this, he has said he would take a decision on whether or not to swear in the elected councillors.”My major concern is that we can’t have a town without councillors.How will they function?” he said.Yesterday, the Congress of Democrats’ Kunene Regional Chairperson, Mbeumuna Muhuka, presented Salionga with a petition on behalf of the opposition parties, pressing him to swear them in.”The alleged irregularities by the Swapo Party does not warrant the delay of the swearing-in process of the councillors for the Opuwo town.The parties concerned are committed to the course of legal procedures but not to allow for any exercise of comradeship in the favour of one political party,” reads the petition.The DTA has also enlisted legal advice to push for the new councillors to be inaugurated soon.The party’s administrative secretary, Rudolph Kamburona, said that it was unacceptable that the process was being stalled indefinitely.Swapo petitioned the town magistrate, Harry Salionga, last week to hold off on the inauguration of new councillors based on claims that more than 200 people registered as voters were not resident at the town.A Police spot-check has shown that at least 25 of those listed were not bona fide voters.Salionga told The Namibian that he found that the ruling party had a legitimate claim in questioning the registered electorate.In the election in which 1 834 of the registered 3 104 people voted, Swapo, the DTA and the Congress of Democrats all obtained two seats on the council, while one went to Nudo.Town Clerk Libertus Mbaumba told The Namibian that the delay in swearing in the new council had put the running of the town’s affairs in a precarious situation.”It’s really not a good.We had hoped to have had a meeting already.There are decisions that need to be taken.I hope it will be resolved soon,” he said.The DTA’s Kamburona said that it was happy with the two seats it had obtained through the election, but refuted claims that the party was involved in underhanded tactics to boost its votes.Kamburona said it was commonplace for people to hold domicile in one town but to work in another.Nudo’s acting regional chairperson, Heinz Maundu, said that the Magistrate’s decision to indefinitely postpone the swearing in of the newly elected councillors was one-sided because the other parties were not consulted beforehand.