Several City of Windhoek councillors have raised concerns over chief exectutive officer (CEO) Moses Matyayi’s foreign trips, including an alleged N$300 000 spent by the municipality on a trip to Harvard University.
The concerns were raised in a letter addressed to urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa on 5 August.
Matyayi, who has been accused of delaying a review of resolutions in a bid to retain the travel powers, has rejected the allegation, calling it “speculative and unsupported by evidence”.
The letter, seen by The Namibian and signed by Independent Patriots for Change councillors Werner-Meck Tjihuiko, Jesaya Ikali and former mayor Ndeshihafela Larandja, claims that the councillors often learn about the CEO’s trips through “social media”.
“We only came to learn via the social media platform that the chief executive officer (CEO) is out of the country for more than two weeks on official trips to Russia and then Columbia – trips that we are not aware of (never informed) as councillors,” the letter states.
Matyayi says the allegations are part of a “clandestine witch-hunt” and accuses those behind them of trying to build a false narrative.
At the heart of the councillors’ complaints is a plea for Sankwasa to scrap the 2008 and 2021 City Council resolutions, which they say allow the CEO to take international trips without seeking prior approval from the full council.
The councillors say the issue was first raised during a consultative meeting with Sankwasa on 15 July.
They say Matyayi was advised during the July meeting to table the delegated powers before the current council for consideration.
However, the councillors say this had not happened by the time they wrote to Sankwasa.
They say the current practice gives the management committee access to information on official travel, while councillors receive limited or no comprehensive reports on trips undertaken by other councillors and city officials.
They asked Sankwasa to ensure that Matyayi urgently initiates a review of the two resolutions.
“Council cannot effectively fulfil its constitutional mandate without timely access to complete information relating to official travel undertaken in the name of the City of Windhoek,” they say.
Matyayi says the accusations are “inaccurate”.
“It is, therefore, inaccurate to suggest that such reviews fall solely within the authority or control of the CEO,” he says.
Matyayi says the 2008 and 2021 travel resolutions remain valid because they have not been formally amended or replaced by the council.
“A council resolution does not lapse merely because time has passed or because individual councillors hold differing views regarding its continued suitability,” he says.
Matyayi also disagrees that he deliberately delayed the review of resolutions to preserve his authority to travel.
The councillors also alleged that he sometimes selects delegation members who are not directly relevant to the purpose of the trips.
However, Matyayi also rejects that allegation, saying “delegation members are selected according to the operational, technical, administrative, strategic or protocol requirements directly linked to the objectives of the respective engagements.”
He says international trips are necessary because the city operates in an interconnected environment through international partnerships, development cooperation agreements, twinning arrangements and membership of regional and international municipal networks.
He says such engagements provide opportunities for knowledge-sharing, benchmarking, capacity building, investment promotion, institutional learning and exploring solutions to the city’s challenges.
He adds that the city’s annual travel budget is planned beforehand and is approved by the council.
The councillors also question the CEO’s participation in several trips, saying Matyayi’s travel role has allegedly shifted from nominating who should travel to selecting himself for trips.
‘THE TRIPS’
Information reviewed by The Namibian shows Matyayi has taken at least 14 international trips since taking office in 2023.
The trips included Bremen and Berlin in Germany, Masvingo in Zimbabwe, Mannheim in Germany, Durban in South Africa, Gießen in Germany, Moscow in Russia, Yutong in China, Baku in Azerbaijan and New York in the United States.
Matyayi’s trips come at a time when the city’s roads are deteriorating and facing a N$2.67 billion maintenance backlog.
He confirms that in 2026 he travelled to Yutong in China, Moscow in Russia and New York in the United States, but he did not comment on the trips between 2023 and 2025.
He says the China and New York trips formed part of the Khomas governor’s official delegation and “should not be characterised as a discretionary personal trip”.
Matyayi adds that all the trips served a specific purpose, ranging from leadership development, capacity building and official engagements.
Meanwhile, the city did not disclose the costs of the trips, saying the information is private.
“The city would like to clarify that the information relating to the costs associated with individual official international trips is confidential internal financial and administrative information,” City spokesperson Lydia Amutenya said on Thursday.
City management committee chairperson councillor Austin Kwenani, told The Namibian on Wednesday that when Larandja was mayor, “whatever was done was an old practice and nothing was changed”.
“So being questioned now becomes interesting unless what she was doing then was not correct,” he said.
Sankwasa did not respond to The Namibian at the time of publication.
The dispute over the power to approve international trips comes a year after a battle between Sankwasa and Windhoek councillors over international trips.
In 2025, The Namibian reported that Sankwasa ordered former Windhoek councillors to repay about N$20 million spent on international trips he said were unapproved.
According to the article, the councillors refused to pay back the money.
The trips include a N$120 600 China trip taken by two councillors, and a N$118 400 trip to Mozambique.
Destinations during the period included Singapore, Shanghai, Eswatini, Tshwane, Vienna, Nanjing, Moscow, Bogotá, Mannheim, Milan and Barcelona.
The previous dispute centred on whether the trips had the necessary approval and whether public funds could be used for them.
