Amupanda to serve on Unam council

Amupanda to serve on Unam council OGONE TLHAGE

… says conflict of interest allegations are ‘propaganda’



WINDHOEK

The management committee of the City of Windhoek has selected mayor Job Amupanda to serve on the council of the University of Namibia (Unam).

Amupanda is a full-time employee of the university, and his appointment to the council has sparked claims of a possible conflict of interest, something the youthful mayor has dismissed as propaganda.

Amupanda is a senior lecturer at Unam and serves in an acting capacity as the deputy dean in the faculty of economic and management sciences.

Municipal documents seen by Namibian Sun indicate that council took the decision at a special City of Windhoek council meeting last Thursday.

The City will be represented on other external committees by Clemencia Hanases (Mayoral Trust), Shafiishuna Nujoma (Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre) and Ndeshihafela Larandja (Namibia University of Science and Technology).

Iilse Keister and Joseph Uapingene will represent the City on the Retirement Fund for Local Authorities and Utilities in Namibia.

Management committee chairperson Fillemon Hambuda, Desiree Davids and Amupanda will represent the City on the Association for Local Authorities in Namibia.

‘Illegal’ Otjiwarongo meeting

Namibian Sun understands the decision to appoint members to the committee was made on 5 February when the councillors were in Otjiwarongo for an induction workshop for councillors.

“The ordinary councillors drove back after the workshop but the management committee (MC) remained behind to have a meeting. That is where they allocated these positions. They later realised they made a mistake because the councillors forum ought to have made these selections and submit to MC for subsequent submission to the full council,” a municipal source privy to the matter said.

The councillors’ forum is the platform used by councillors to discuss matters in secret. The forum on 25 February endorsed the Otjiwarongo selection and forwarded it to the MC.

It is alleged that acting CEO George Mayumbelo told councillors that some laws were not followed when the MC held its meeting in Otjiwarongo, hence the need to re-do the decision.

“He told the councillors that there was an oversight because they thought the MC had the power to appoint people onto committees. It turned out that decision must be taken by the full council,” the source explained.

‘Propaganda’

At this stage, it is unknown how Amupanda plans to navigate the potential conflict, seeing that the Unam management - to which he reports as lecturer - reports to the council.

Amupanda said questions around his imminent inclusion to the council are “propaganda”.

“It is common cause that there are many people who are not happy with the work we are doing and because of that they are busy with propaganda. There is no issue at all. The conflict only exists in the minds of the ignorant,” Amupanda said.

His appointment to the council is also not peculiar, he said.

“There are also four academics, at my level, from senate on council, in terms of Section 9 (2) (d) of the Act. The students are also on council in terms of Section 9 (3) of the Act.

“These are just panicking lunatics who do not understand the provisions of the Act and how higher education operates,” he added.

Hambuda refused to comment on the matter.

“I am in Covid-19 isolation; I am sorry, I cannot speak to you,” he said.