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AFTER a failed attempt to get on the same page, opposition parties on the Windhoek City Council lost the council’s management committee to Swapo.

Former Windhoek mayors Job Amupanda and Sade Gawanas have teamed up with fellow councillors Ivan Skrywer, Clemencia Hanases and Ilse Keister to deviate from the council’s agenda.

During the election process the group of councillors elected each other, and confirmed and withdrew their candidacy for the position of mayor.

After numerous withdrawals, magistrate Jozaane Klazen declared the last man standing, National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) councillor Joseph Uapingene, the city’s new mayor.

Swapo’s Magdalena Pienaar-Lombardt was declared the deputy mayor.

Swapo councillors Sam Nujoma, Queen Kamati and Austin Kwenani are heading a three-member management committee, while two positions have been left vacant.

Hanases and Skrywer have declined nominations to be part of the management committee.

“Let them stick to their caucus. I decline the nomination,” Skrywer told Klazen during the proceedings.

LPM leader Bernadus Swartbooi on Friday said their councillors’ actions were part of a strategy.

He said the LPM must know the character of the parties it can work with.

“It therefore influences our thinking around who we should have any coalition with. Some political parties without any ideological face merely want to govern,” he said.

‘ABSOLUTE POWER’

Amupanda said they do not want to be delegated to by the Swapo-led council, saying the party has “absolute power” over the management committee.

“The councillors you are seeing here will have their own programmes. They will have a management committee of their own, because we are not part of giving absolute power,” he said, adding a majority-led committee will create problems.

“The essence of working together is because the electorate has said we want you to work together, because it will be eventful,” Amupanda said.

Skrywer confirmed this by giving his account of the previous committee he served on, which was led by the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC).

Amupanda said some opposition members have chosen to work with Swapo because “they have cars to pay off”.

Meanwhile, sources close to the matter say opposition members attempted to reach consensus two days before the election, but failed because the parties did not want to give up their previous positions.

“Everyone wants to be mayor or chairman of the management committee. Everybody thinks he or she is better than the other one.

“It’s about positions as they don’t want to give chances to others to rotate these positions,” the sources say.

Representatives from the PDM, the IPC, Nudo, the Affirmative Repositioning and the LPM are to meet on Monday to iron out their differences.

Last week’s meeting was attended by PDM secretary general Manual Ngaringombe and parliamentarian Nico Smit, IPC spokesperson Immanuel Nashinge, Keister and their head of legal affairs Maitjituavi Kavetu, as well as Nudo secretary general Joseph Kauandenge and Gawanas.

“There is no agreement among parties. Selfishness, egotism and a lack of willingness to work together seem to be the problem for us to reach consensus.

“There was a meeting, but there is no willingness to work together among the opposition,” the sources say.

Meanwhile, the IPC councillors who did not partake in the election called other councillors hungry.

“They just want to fill their bellies,” IPC spokesperson Immanuel Nashinge recently said.

Deputy minister of urban and rural development Natalia /Goagoses recently described the City of Windhoek’s council election as tough.