Martin Endjala
A Judea Lyaboloma Constituency councillor accused the urban and rural development minister, Erastus Uutoni, of failing to intervene in the issues of the Zambezi Regional Council.
In an interview with the Windhoek Observer this week, Humphrey Divai said the minister has only been attending to the matters of other regions and some local authorities.
“I do not know why the minister is not intervening in the Zambezi matter. This is a serious issue. What is he afraid of? It seems like he is protecting his Swapo comrade Simushi,” said Divai.
He added that the Zambezi Regional Council has been in shambles due to a lack of council meetings.
According to Divai, the council held its last meeting earlier this year to approve its budget.
He blamed the council’s lack of meetings on the council chairperson, Matengu Simushi, whom he claimed has become a problem and is unreachable.
“As per the council’s standing rules, as stipulated in the Local Authority Act, the chairperson is supposed to call for council meetings, and we have not had any council meetings since our financial report council meeting. That was the only meeting we had. Since January, nothing has happened. We are on autopilot,” he said.
Divai worries that the lack of council meetings is preventing the making of crucial resolutions that could have affected the community’s lives.
He described the chairperson’s downplaying of the cat-and-mouse game as tantamount to the region’s aspirations of developing and uplifting livelihoods.
“We have tried calling him, but he is not answering. We can’t even go to the CRO because he was arrested on seven charges of corruption, and the ACC was even here to investigate. The situation here in Zambezi is really bad,” he said.
Divai claimed that Shimushi victimises councillors who speak out against his poor leadership by sidelining them from participating in training workshops.
“We are being victimised for speaking out. We are never invited to workshops. We only hear them taking place. As such, we wrote a grievance letter last month to the regional governor, Lawrence Sampofu. But we haven’t received any response yet,” said Divai.
Efforts to reach Simushi proved difficult, as he did not answer his phone.
Sampofu had also not responded to questions sent to him by the time this article was published.
Uutoni clarified that he was not aware of the matter at the regional council while elaborating that issues at regional council meetings ought to be handled by both the chairperson and the CRO.
He said if that does not work, the regional governor can also intervene.
“The councillor must understand that the minister is dealing with many local authority issues, and we are looking into most of the issues brought to us. I was not aware of this matter seriously. I advise the council to approach the governor and lay their grievance if the chairperson is not responsive. If the governor cannot find a solution, only then can he probe the urban and rural development interventions,” explained Uutoni.
Uutoni went on to say that many local authority issues had recently made him the scapegoat, claiming that this was not the first time he had faced accusations of favouring some local authorities over others.
The minister explained that the ministry handles issues reported by local authorities in the same manner as other issues; however, he mentioned that the ministry is still addressing ongoing issues.
He urged people to remain calm, adding that each problem would be resolved one at a time.
The ministry recently directed the Outjo municipality to reverse the appointment of a substantive chief executive officer and re-advertise the position. It also directed the Walvis Bay municipality to reverse all decisions to appoint a CEO.
The Karasburg town council received similar directives last year, and when they failed to comply, the ministry suspended the entire council without pay or benefits.
Uutoni then appointed a new interim administration to head the council’s affairs.
