Sem Billy David
The five-year contract of the City of Windhoek’s chief executive officer once appeared to offer sufficient time to transform Namibia’s capital city.
However, as the term approaches its reported conclusion in March next year, residents are increasingly asking whether the administration will leave behind tangible results or merely a series of last-minute explanations and promises.
Windhoek is home to approximately 250 000 people living in informal settlements. Many continue to wait for proper roads, serviced land, sanitation, electricity and reliable access to essential municipal services.
Despite repeated promises and development plans, large sections of the population remain without the basic infrastructure expected in a capital city.
The central question is whether the CEO’s term will conclude with measurable achievements. A further question is whether there is still a credible basis for renewing the CEO’s contract.
Any such decision should be based on evidence, performance and accountability, not political convenience or emergency activity during the final months of the contract.
The City has faced criticism over its failure to implement several resolutions adopted by the municipal council.
Concerns have also been raised about the absence of legally designated open markets for street vendors, many of whom continue to operate under insecure and uncertain conditions.
The issue of land ownership and tenure remains equally troubling. Many residents live in areas where land has not been properly formalized or serviced.
As a result, communities continue to experience darkness, inadequate sanitation, poor roads, insecure tenure and limited municipal services.
These challenges raise questions about the City’s compliance with the principles of responsible local governance.
The Local Authorities Act, 1992, provides the legal framework for the establishment, administration and financial management of local authorities in Namibia.
It also places responsibilities on local authorities to manage municipal affairs, provide services within their mandate and administer public resources lawfully and responsibly.
The Act must be read together with the City of Windhoek’s municipal council standing rules.
Those rules regulate the conduct of council business, the tabling and consideration of reports, the adoption of resolutions, committee oversight and the administration of council decisions.
While the council may lawfully delegate certain responsibilities to committees or officials, such delegation does not remove the need for reporting, monitoring and accountability.
Council resolutions should not remain ceremonial documents. Once properly adopted, they should be implemented, monitored and reported on.
Where a resolution cannot be implemented, the administration should provide the council and the public with a clear explanation, the reasons for the delay and a realistic implementation timetable.
Recent reports indicate that the City is attempting to recover approximately N$900 million in outstanding debt from residents and is considering the disconnection of water and electricity services from accounts in arrears.
Revenue collection is a legitimate responsibility of a municipal authority, and the City must protect its financial sustainability.
However, enforcement must be transparent, lawful and applied fairly. Before placing additional pressure on ordinary residents, the City should disclose the composition of the outstanding debt.
The public should be informed how much is owed by households, municipal employees, government ministries, state-owned entities, private organizations and other institutional customers.
Questions have also been raised about a reported amount of approximately N$200 million allegedly owed by employees, as reflected in the City’s 2024/2025 financial reporting.
If this figure is accurate, the City should explain what recovery measures have been taken, how much has been recovered and whether employees and large institutional debtors are being subjected to the same standards of enforcement proposed for ordinary residents.
A municipality cannot convincingly demand payment from the public while failing to provide a complete and credible account of its own internal and institutional debtors.
Financial accountability requires more than announcing service disconnections. It requires accurate disclosure, consistent enforcement, proper internal controls and equal treatment of all categories of debtors.
The public may also reasonably compare the current position with the 2021/2022 period, when the City’s outstanding debt was reportedly reduced during the tenure of Professor Job Amupanda as mayor.
What changed after that period? Why did the debt increase again? Which recovery measures were discontinued, weakened or poorly implemented?
These are not merely political questions. They concern the financial management of a public institution and the delivery of essential services to residents.
Under the Local Authorities Act, the council has a responsibility to exercise oversight over the administration and municipal finances.
The standing rules of the council provide mechanisms through which councillors can request reports, question officials, refer matters to committees and monitor the implementation of council decisions.
The mayor and councillors should therefore insist on regular and detailed reports covering outstanding debt, employee accounts, government accounts, revenue collection, service disconnections, informal-settlement development, land delivery and the implementation of council resolutions.
The public is now witnessing what appears to be an intensified effort to explain failures and address long-standing problems as the CEO’s contract approaches its end.
If the City is suddenly able to respond to issues that residents have raised for years, an unavoidable question follows: why was this urgency not visible earlier?
Damage control should not be about saving one’s bread at the last minute. It should be the final stage of a sustained record of responsible leadership, measurable service delivery and transparent governance.
Any decision to renew the CEO’s contract should therefore be based on a comprehensive performance assessment.
Such an assessment should include the number of council resolutions implemented, progress in informal settlements, access to serviced land, road and sanitation development, electricity connections, revenue recovery, financial controls and the resolution of outstanding audit or governance concerns.
The City should publish a public performance report before any contract-renewal decision is made. Residents deserve to know what was promised, what was delivered, what remains outstanding and who is responsible for the failures.
Windhoek needs leadership that works throughout the entire contract—not only when the contract is approaching its final month.
The question before the council is no longer what can be promised before March. It is what has been delivered, what has been neglected and whether the evidence justifies another term.
*Sem Billy David is a youth leader and the views expressed herein are his own.
