Swapo mum over fate of councillors

THE Mayor of Windhoek and three City Councillors who Swapo summarily booted last week are still waiting for reinstatement letters they were promised on Friday when Swapo made a sudden U-turn on the withdrawals.

‘I have not received a letter yet,’ Linnea Shaetonhodi said yesterday afternoon when approached for comment by The Namibian. Shaetonhodi, Hileni Ilonga, Dr Björn von Finckenstein and Mayor Matheus Shikongo were withdrawn as city councillors for alleged ‘(Swapo) constitutional misconduct’. During an emergency meeting on Friday, Swapo Secretary General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana is reported to have said the withdrawal was an unauthorised move by the Swapo Khomas regional executive.Ithana said it should have been done procedurally – with a recommendation to the national leadership, including the Politburo, for a final decision.Mayor Shikongo, who was present at that meeting, was assured by Iivula-Ithana that he and the three other town councillors would be reinstated ‘with immediate effect’ and letters to that effect would be sent to them the same afternoon.This has not happened. Shikongo was also still waiting for his reinstatement letter yesterday. ‘No letter reached me,’ he told The Namibian yesterday afternoon. Asked if he would accept his reinstatement should the letter from the Swapo headquarters arrive, he merely said: ‘Let us wait until then.’When The Namibian approached Iivula-Ithana yesterday to hear when the letters would be sent out, she replied with: ‘No comment.’ She added that she might have some information for the media by today.It is expected that the top four Swapo leaders – President Hifikepunye Pohamba, party Vice President Hage Geingob, Iivula-Ithana and Deputy Secretary General Nangolo Mbumba – will meet this week to discuss the matter.