Martin Endjala
The election of new office bearers for the City of Windhoek’s municipal council on Monday ended in disarray after councillors walked out.
As a result, presiding magistrate Immanuel Ndjombala adjourned the election meeting.
The disruption began when councillor Ilse Keister-Elago of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) requested a brief adjournment, which was denied. She and several other councillors, including Job Amupanda (AR), Ivan Skrywer, Sade Gawanas (LPM), the IPC’s Jürgen Hecht, and outgoing deputy mayor Joseph Uapingene, exited the chamber in protest.
The only agenda item addressed before the adjournment was outgoing mayor Queen Kamati’s tabling of the 2024 mayoral report.
Tensions escalated when Ndjombala directed outgoing management committee members to return farewell gifts, but some refused and left with the items.
The council must now consider legalities to determine if Kamati can temporarily continue as mayor to prevent a leadership vacuum.
A similar impasse occurred in December 2022, leading to a postponement of the vote because of a lack of quorum.
In 2023, the Urban and Rural Development Ministry issued a directive reminding councillors of their constitutional obligations and prohibiting walkouts during elections.
The councillors were served a direct order from the ministry not to walk out in order to allow the election to proceed unhindered.
One of the councillors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some councillors may not be present due to their travelling schedules and the person hoped the election would be concluded as per the set date.
“I was supposed to travel today, but I had no choice but to come here and participate in the election. It is a pity with this now because some of us will not be around and who knows how many more,” said the councillor.
According to the City of Windhoek’s spokesperson, Lydia Amutenya, a new election date will be announced later.
