Grootfontein Swapo members petition for mayor’s recall

Some Swapo party members at Grootfontein on Friday staged a peaceful demonstration calling for the removal of their mayor Thalita Garises.

The nearly 100 disgruntled members handed over a petition to the Swapo district coordinator of Grootfontein, John Haimbondi, who promised to channel it through the relevant party structures.

In their petition, the members accused Garises of collaborating with the opposition political party local authority councillors at the municipality.

They said Garises works more with the opposition councillors than her Swapo party colleagues.

The seven local authority councillors at the municipality are Garises, Lovisa Iyambo, Alfeus Nghikevali, Victor Shandjuka, Elizabeth Kastoor, Lodewikus Jacobs and Johanna Fillemon.

Garises, Iyambo, Nghikevali and Shandjuka are all from Swapo, while Kastoor is from the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM).

Jacobs and Fillemon are members of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC).

“Therefore, we are dismayed for her to work in collaboration with Kastoor, the chairperson of the management committee, Jacobs and Fillemon who are all from the opposition parties,” they said.

They now demand she is recalled by Swapo from her position as local authority councillor and replaced.

Their petition also called her a double standard mayor, who should resign from Swapo and join PDM or IPC.

The aggrieved Swapo members further blamed Garises for the bad condition of the roads at the town, as she allegedly supports the suspension of the CEO Kisco Sinvula, saying the suspension is a smear campaign spearheaded by Kastoor, Jacobs and Fillemon.

The group gave seven days as of 9 May this year for Swapo in the Otjozondjupa region and national headquarters to react to their petition.

Gariseb in a telephone interview with Nampa on Saturday said she is aware of the demonstration.

She explained that Kastoor is her relative, who also happens to be a local authority councillor chairing the management committee of the Grootfontein municipality, not that she wants to join PDM or IPC.

Garises said she joined Swapo in January 1977, and now coordinates the Ongulumbashe party branch at Grootfontein.