Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani has accused Swapo of politically targeting his party following delays in salary payments to employees of the Kunene Regional Council.
Venaani raised the matter in the National Assembly on Tuesday during an oral question directed to prime minister Elijah Ngurare.
He linked the delayed salaries to what he described as political retaliation after PDM won control of the Kunene region in the recent elections.
His remarks come after 94 employees of the Kunene Regional Council, including four regional councillors, were left unpaid in June salaries.
The payments were due on 25 June but were reportedly blocked after urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa intervened by halting government funding to the opposition-led regional council.
“You are punishing us because you have lost,” Venaani said.
He criticised what he called selective application of the rule of law and warned against politicising administrative decisions.
Responding to the allegations, Ngurare said the issue should not be politicised.
He said no government structure should deliberately withhold salaries from public servants.
“There is no structure of government where Namibians working there are deliberately denied salaries. I don’t think there is anything of that sort,” Ngurare said.
He added that the matter appears to stem from administrative and technical issues following correspondence from the Kunene Regional Council.
Ngurare apologised for the inconvenience caused to affected employees and assured parliament that the matter was receiving urgent attention.
“We want to make it clear that the issue of stopping salaries is not the design of anybody. Nobody should be disadvantaged purely on technicalities,” he said, adding that the matter would be resolved as soon as possible
