Land activist vows to hold new councillors accountable
OKAHANDJA - Okahandja land activist Johannes Gaseb, who also contested in the recent regional and local authority elections as an independent candidate under the banner of the Promised Land Association, said they will hold the newly elected councillors accountable.
Gaseb said this in an interview with Nampa yesterday at the Okahandja municipality, where the swearing in of newly elected councillors was supposed to take place, but was postponed today due to the absence of a magistrate to oversee the ceremony.
This was confirmed by Okahandja municipality acting CEO Pasella Nunda. Gaseb said the community of Okahandja, especially people living in the informal settlements, are happy to welcome the new leadership from various political parties that have been promising change at the town.
He said that he has been part of the committee negotiating on who is going to be the mayor, deputy mayor and who is going serve in the management committee, and they all agreed to keep their election promises. But if the new councillors “end up doing something else that does not benefit the people”, the community will be forced to approach relevant authorities to hold the councillors accountable.
“The people of Okahandja have suffered enough, especially those living in the informal settlements.
Remember when the Ministry of Land Reform took us to court just because we were fighting for land, so even with the new councillors we are not going to relax but continue to fight against landlessness and hold them accountable,” said Gaseb.
According to him, the new councillors have already set up plans which include recruiting a substantial CEO before the end of February next year, and to conduct a land audit to determine how people were awarded land in Okahandja by the previous councillors.
“The land audit will help us determine who got land legally and who got land illegally from the previous town councillors,” said Gaseb.
Earlier this year, the previous town councillors we r e suspended by former minister of urban and rural development Peya Mushelenga for alleged mismanagement, failure to comply with ministerial directives and non-submission of council minutes. -Nampa