Rehoboth council should fix its mess

The UPM – RDP leadership at the town of Rehoboth, herewith would like to make it clear that it does not have any part in the said demonstrations.

The demonstrators consist of a number of residents lead by some prominent SWAPO Party members including the former Mayor of the town Mr Pieters. The Opposition has taken note of the claims by the demonstrators to get Pieters back as Mayor and also noted the false accusations by Willy Swartz at the Rehoboth Town Council, claiming that the local UPM – RDP coalition is part of the demonstration.

In fact, the Opposition has been informed reliably that Pieters had been removed by his party and therefore has nothing to do with his withdrawal, the opposition electorate in fact welcomed the decision by the SWAPO Party to remove Pieters due to various reasons. It is evident that some residents in the town became comfortable by being treated differently in the past from others. Something the Opposition do not agree with. The Opposition wants to make it clear that all residents are responsible to pay for services rendered to them by the RTC and it is in agreement that such services be disconnected when it is not paid for. It however does have questions on the fact that services of some poor residents had been suspended, whilst some residents, like business owners, who can really afford to pay for services were allowed to build up huge water bills without proper action being taken by the relevant department.

The “political” role that Mr Swartz plays as employee of the RTC is one of the reasons why he cannot be tolerated in the position of his appointment. His behaviour can be understood for the presence of a UPM member on Management has broken the power that he enforced as Swapo member on the Management. This is the reason why Mr Swartz makes these unfounded allegations to shift attention away from him. It has become a habit of Mr Swartz to blatantly ignore the rules of the Act regarding council meeting notices and distribution of submissions by delivering submissions at the last moment to opposition members in the hope that they will not have sufficient time to prepare for meetings. The minutes and submissions for Council meetings did not reach the Councillors in time as required by the Local Authority Act.

The UPM do not need proving Mr Swartz’ incompetence. The proof is in the pudding that is dished out for Rehoboth residents to eat in service delivery. His failure to proper management of council administration including issues around Council property, as well as his desperation in lobbying councillors to approve his self-enrichment schemes, for instance, in getting agricultural land and erven around Rehoboth town is to become nauseaous from. Very recently he used his position to appoint five temporary people without following the prescribed rules, even in obtaining councils’ approval for the necessary budget. Of course his comrades as majority rule allows him to get away with many plans in fear of his influence in Swapo management.

Mr Willy Swartz recently appeared on One Africa Television without council consent threatening some residents in Block G Ext 1 and 2 that that the Rehoboth Town Council will demolish the structures build on the erven without approval. It seems that Mr Swartz has forgotten that the allocation of these erven were a political move by the previous Swapo council in order to obtain favour with the voters.

The UPM- RDP Rehoboth Coalition would like to remind the CEO and Swapo council members that Mr Willy Swartz is a paid official of the Rehoboth Town Council and cannot be allowed to continue with his own political agenda. In fact it is advised that the necessary record clearance by the CEO, which was supposed to be a standard procedure, be done, before he appointed Mr Swartz.

Should the CEO fail to address the mentioned issues in a proper way the Opposition will have no other choice than to take this matter up with higher authority.

Furthermore the Rehoboth Town Council should investigate all private business endeavours of RTC officials to ensure that private businesses are not run on community infrastructure and means.