Martin Endjala
The Erongo region district coordinator of Swapo, Daniel Muhuura, said the party will challenge the suspension of its three representatives on the Walvis Bay Town Council.
Muhuura’s response comes after the mayor of Walvis Bay, Trevino Forbes announced the suspension of three Swapo councillors, Ephraim Shozi, Albertina Nkoshi, and Paulus Kauhondhomwa for the entire month of September.
“We definitely don’t take it lightly. We will not sit idle. We will challenge it. And get to the bottom of the matter,” said Muhuura.
Swapo’s district coordinator of information of the Walvis Bay urban constituency, Claudius Aikera, said the suspension is unfair for one party to suspend the other without a consensus of all councillors.
He called on the urban and rural development minister, Erastus Uutoni, to intervene and put the Walvis Bay Council under administration.
Forbes said that the three were found to be in breach of the standing rules and orders of the council code of conduct at a council meeting held last month.
He accused them of causing the chaotic scenes and uttering inappropriate language that is not allowed as per the standing rules and orders.
The decision to suspend the three was taken during a special council meeting that was held on 29 August.
“The reason we did so was. As you might all have seen. There was a council meeting where it was deeply disruptive and some words were shared. So three councillors contravened the standing rules and order,” he pointed out.
On 17 July, the Joint Walvis Bay Residents Association (JWBRA) lodged a grievance against the three Swapo councillors following the chaotic scenes on 16 July during the ordinary council meeting.
Council Ronald Bramwell, who represented the association on the council in the letter of grievance, explained that the letter was issued due to disrespect towards the chairperson of the council, ignoring of the rules and order, racist remarks, threatening, and disruption of the ordinary council meeting.
He demanded that action be taken against the three councillors.
“I take great exception to this cavalier attitude which these three councillors exhibited in front of the people in the public gallery and in full view of the media who were recording all the proceedings in the chamber,” he said.
According to Bramwell, the exact same thing occurred in the morning at the informal discussions, where the three councillors of the Swapo party as well as councillor Ryan Gordon of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) disrupted the meeting, which was eventually cancelled due to their behaviour.
He said potential investors were waiting to make a presentation that could lead to investment and job creation in Walvis Bay, but they had to leave without making their presentation as a result.
