Martin Endjala
The Outjo Municipality has resolved to re-advertise the position for chief executive officer following meetings between the council and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development.
This occurred one month after the council missed the ministry’s March deadline.
At the time, the ministry issued a directive to the council concerning complaints of irregularities in the recruitment of the CEO, Mahne Kruger.
As such, the Outjo council was directed to cancel the process and re-advertise the position.
The ministry also mandated that the short-listing, interviewing, and vacancy-filling processes be completed within three months.
Outjo has been without a substantive CEO.
The Windhoek Observer learned on Monday from the municipality’s spokesperson, Rivonia Roman that the local newspapers had re-advertised the post.
“The council held a meeting with the ministry, and both parties agreed to re-advertise the CEO post, with a deadline set for 19 August 2024, for submissions by interested candidates. We have also published the position in the New Era newspaper on 22 July 2024. Tjipura Immanuel is our acting CEO for now,” said Roman.
The advert seen has been changed from the original requirements.
The previous requirements were that the candidate should have a minimum experience of eight years of working experience of which five years should be at senior management level in a local authority environment.
The new requirements are asking for eight years of working experience of which five years should be at middle management, senior or executive management level at local authority environment.
It is not clear why these requirements were changed.
A letter seen by this publication by a concerned group from the community titled “Incompetent handling of municipal affairs and poor service delivery” said that in the past five years, Outjo has been on autopilot and, since last year, without a CEO.
“It is with great dismay that we are compelled to write this open letter and draw attention to our municipality’s utter failure to manage municipal affairs effectively and efficiently. Outjo has been on autopilot for the past five years and has been without a CEO since last year,” said the concerned group.
The residents argued that the council is operating outside the scope of the Local Authority Act. It claims that no community meetings are held with the inhabitants.
“Blatant ignorance of a directive from your office to advertise the CEO position is another sign of a completely incompetent council,” claimed the residents.
They argue that Outjo is in a vacuum and that poor service delivery has become the norm. They added that the project to bring services to the informal settlements has been at a standstill for over eight years.
“We are compelled to peacefully mobilise ourselves as a community because we are angry – very angry – at the indignity that we must suffer being without a CEO, the seeming lack of care of the municipality, and the lack of communication from the municipality,” said the residents.
The group argues that the councillors treat the residents like second-class citizens, which is unacceptable given the hard-fought democracy.
“We, the residents, households and institutions of Outjo, have a right to service delivery. We dutifully pay municipal rates with the expectation that all citizens will have access to services. We expect the municipality and its elected councillors to honour this right as servants of the community,” the residents argued.
They argued that they would no longer remain silent in the face of violations of their rights, or stand mute as the crisis deepened.
They demand a responsive municipality that takes seriously the provision of basic services to all residents.
“We demand that the municipality give us a clear plan and a timetable for the appointment of a CEO. But, like today, when necessary, we will also not hesitate to march, demonstrate, demand answers, demand better performance, and demand that you be responsive and accountable to residents. This is in defence of the rights enshrined in our Constitution, to which we are all bound as a nation,” said the residents.
The residents urged the minister of urban and local government to guarantee service delivery in Outjo.
