Rehoboth community welcomes suspension of councillors

REHOBOTH, 16 MAR – The community of Rehoboth has welcomed the suspension of the Rehoboth Town Council for non-compliance of ministerial directives.
In a statement read on his behalf at the council chambers on Thursday, Minister of Urban and Rural Development Peya Mushelenga said his ministry has been pre-occupied in dealing with the state of mismanagement, lack of accountability and poor service delivery of the town council for some years.
He announced an interim council governance structure, with Natalia /Goagoses to exercise all the powers, duties and functions of the minister.
/Goagoses will assume duty with immediate effect and will be supported by the council’s Chief Executive Officer Christoph |Uirab, whose suspension from office was withdrawn with immediate effect, along with a team of ministry officials seconded to the council for a defined period.
Speaking to Nampa on Friday, community activist Abram Abes Kaibib said the minister’s intervention is welcomed.
“It is long overdue and shows our protests were not in vain. There is hope for Rehoboth after all… Now Rehoboth can be saved from going down to the drain,” he said.
Kaibib said now is the time to unite and work towards saving Rehoboth and making it one of the best towns in Namibia.
Reverend Dean du Toit of the Ecumenical Council of Churches (ECC) in Rehoboth said the church also saw the town’s plight and intervened.
In September 2017, spiritual leaders under the ECC staged a peaceful protest against alleged poor service delivery and corruption by the town council.
“The cries of the people of Rehoboth and the church have been heard by the government. As the voice for the voiceless we now see a better future for the town. A lot has happened that almost drove the town down the drain, but with the intervention by the minister our town can be saved,” Du Toit said.
The suspended council members are:
Mayor Christina Blaauw-Petrus (Swapo)
Deputy Mayor Eve Maasdorp (Swapo)
Management Committee Chairperson Winston |Uirab (Swapo)
Deputy Chairperson Jonas Matthew (Swapo)
Leonard Pienaar – United People’s Movement (UPM)
Marietta Pickering (UPM)
Emma Farmer (UPM)

NAMPA